"f, '^ 



.V 






-' °o 









'^^•k 















,/■ 



i.X' 



<^. 



'^p. 












^ .nO 






b^^^. 












cP^ ^^ 









■ 4'^ *> 



'^^ 















o^ 



t: 






■^^..^v 



■^. .<^^ 



V. z 



■\^ 






c5 ^ „ , . ■* ,0^ 

\ ■ > 






^c^ 



" <• 



A^^ 




. ^V^ 






^ 



f 

>% 



./■ 






.0^ 






.^^ 



^^- '^f^. 






.-^'^^ 



-^> .#' 



'<?:. 



"^■^ v^ 









'V, 



,0 O^ " \ 



.A'' 









•*>>^x 



"oo^ 



. \ „ > '^ o ^ 

V *" - 










' ■> » ^ A \ 1 « 






TROPICAL FIBRES: 



Cljtu '^xalanttxan 



ECONOMIC EXTRACTION. 



By El a. SQUIEK. 

rOR.MERLT MINISTER OP THE UNITED STATES IN CENTRAL AMERICA ETC. 



N"EW YOEK: 
SOUIBNER & CO., 124 GRAND STREET. 

1861. 



Entered accdrding to Act of Congress, in the jear 1S61, 

By E. G. SQUIER, 

Id the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the 
Southern District of New York. 



EDWARD O. JENKINS, 

printer ant JStrrrctgprr, 
20 Ndbtii William Sthkkt, N. Y. 



-^'l^ 



INTRODUCTION. 



No person from northern latitudes can long reside in tropi- 
ca countries, particularly in tropical America, without be- 
ing struck with the number and variety of endogenous plants, 
such as the agaves, pine-apples, plalntains, and palms, which 
form a characteristic and, to northern eyes, a novel feature in 
t v-ery landscape. If of an observant and inquiring turn of 
))ind, the traveller will soon be brought to reflect on the eco- 
nomic value of these plants, and their thousand useful applica- 
tions in supplying human wants. He will discover that they 
not only furnish staple articles of food, oil, and refreshing as 
well as intoxicatmg drinks, but also that they are the produc- 
tive sources of valuable fibres, of every degree of fineness and 
strength, and fit for the most delicate tissues as well as for the 
strongest cables. He will find that the hammock in which he 
reclines is netted from a material almost as fine and soft as silk, 
and will probably be surprised to learn that it is sujiplied from 
the leaves of the wild pineapple, which he sees everywhere 
forming the hedges of enclosures, and scattered thickly through 
the forests. He will find the native boats rigged with cordage 
of superior description, and Avill be told that it has been pro- 
cured from the agaves or hennequins, of which he will observe 
a small, perennial patch, with their green, fleshy leaA'es, grow- 
ing by the side of almost every hut. Or, if in Mexico, he will 



4 INTRODUCriON. 

receive his passport on paper of suritrising touglmes^ and 
tlurability, niadi' from the loaves of the ma ffiici/ — tlie juice of 
which, sui)plying here the place of beer, cider, and more potent 
whiskey, is sold in the shops over the way, under the name of 
pulijiie. Or if, in the East Indies, he desires to send home some 
souvfiiir of liis travels, ho will select from the stock of an 
itinerant pedlar, a handkerchief of gossamer-like texture, almost 
as iino and as dolioate as that which the spider weaves, made 
from the fibres of the leaves of the pineapple plant, the fruit of 
which he ate for his dessert. If in Manilla, he will find ships 
of all nations filling out their cargoes with bales of excellent 
fibres, which he will mistake for hemp or flax, but which he 
will ascertain, ou inquiry, are extracted from the stalks of the 
plantain — the forests of which, with their broad leaves, shadow 
over every jtath aii<l by-road of the island. 

And if our traveller be well-informed as to the wants of 
manufafturc's and the arts, he will wonder how it is that the 
acknowledged and increasing deficiency in the world's supply 
of fibrous materials, has not been filled from the numerous and 
prolific sources which he sees everywhere around him. lie 
will, perhai)s, be induced to inquire why it is that the millions 
of plantain trees which are cut down throughout tropical 
America, after having yielded their fruit, are suflered to rot ou 
the ground, instead of being utilized for the excellent fibres 
with which they are lined. He will ask why the countless 
agaves, which sometimes surround him like forests, and the 
myriads of wild-pine plants which throng the woods, and 
invade every abandoned field, are allowed to send out their 
fibre-stuffed leaves to flourish an<l decay, while the world 
clamors for an increased supply of fibrous materials ? 

Such at least, were the inquiries which pressed on my mind 
during my residence ui troj)ical America. I saw around me 



INTRODUCTION. 5 

abundant, I had almost said infinite sources, from which to sup- 
ply the existing deficiencies of the world and its future demands 
in respect of vegetable fibres. I asked myself, wonderingly, 
" Why are not all these fibre-bearing j)lants with which the 
country teems, in some way utilized ?" But the question did 
not recur, after I came to learn the rude, imperfect, and labori- 
ous processes by Avhich the relatively small quantity of fibres 
l)roduced for local use and export is extracted. 

I saw the native laborers at their work, slowly removing the 
piilpy and vascular portions of the agaves or hennequins, with 
a triangular scraper, or a blunted knife, leaf by leaf, and 
ascertained that a few pounds of fibres, imperfectly cleaned, 
formed the total reward of a long day's toil. I turned away 
from the j^atient Indian laborer Avith a smile, half of pity, half 
of contempt, and asked my friend, the American merchant and 
planter, who had lived for many years in the country, " "Why 
don't you import proper machinery for doing this simple work, 
and thus make a fortune out of tropical fibres ?" " Because," 
was his answer, " there is no such machinery to be had ! I 
long ago sent to the United States, to England and France, 
and even to the Philippine Islands, where ten millions of dol- 
lars' worth of plantain fibres are extracted annually, and found 
that no machinery suited to the purpose has yet been invented. 
Everywhere, as far as I can learn, throughout tropical America, 
and the East Indies as well, the process of extracting these 
kinds of fibres, is substantially that which you see practiced 
by yonder Indian." 

I was incredulous as to my friend's assertion, and when 
I returned to the United States I inquired for myself, but only 
to find his statement confirmed. I ascertained that although 
various machines had been devised for the purpose of cleaning 
the fibres of the pine-apple plants, the agaves, and plantains, 



6 INTRODUCriOX. 

economically aiul r:iiii<lly, none had succeeded in jtracjice. 
And I \\a«< eoini.elli'<l to j^ive up some half-formed plans which 
I had entertained of setting up a machine somewhere in Cen- 
tral America, for the purpose of " making a fortune out of 
vegetahle fibres," as I had advised my friend to do, years before. 
My uiterest in the subject, however, never ceased, and I did 
not entirely r»'liii<iuisli the notion, that sooner or later some 
rajiid and easy method of extracting the fibres of the various 
tropical i>lants to which I have referred, would be discovered. 
I therefore allowed no inventions, claiming to accomplish this 
purpose, to escape my attention ; but until recently none com- 
bining the essential requisites of cheapness, simjilicity, rapidity, 
and efficiency, fell imder my observation. A machine has now, 
however, been invente<l and put in operation, which, in my 
opinion, combines the desired conditions, and which I have 
little doubt is destined to augment very largely the present 
supply of tropical fibres, if indeed, it does not entirely revolu- 
tionize, on both continents, the present modes of producticm. 
I refer to a machine invented and patented by Mr. G. Sanford, 
designed to operate under a process patented by Mr. J. E. Mal- 
lory. 

It is not my purpose here to go into any account of this 
machine and its application, beyond saying that it unites in one 
operation the various processes by which fibres are extracted 
manually, fVnm the vndngenous plants of the tropics. Tiiat is 
to say, it combines the processes of breaking or crushing, 
scraping, hackling, and washing, in one operation ; and I feel 
safe in saying, that by the aid of a machine, not exceeding in 
cost $100, one expert hand can extract in a single day, (say 
from tlie Agave sisifaiui or heiineqnin^) a greater (piantity of 
fibres in better con<lition, than one hundred men can obtain 
through the ])riinitive modes now in use. Of its ap]iH<'abiIity 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

to exogenous plants and cortical fibres, such as hemp and flax, 
there can be no doubt ; but it is as a means of increasmg our 
supply of foliaceous fibres, and utilizing the myriads of tropi- 
cal plants producing them, but now lost to the world, that it 
appeals to me with greatest force. 

It is in this sense, and with a view of directing American 
enterprise to new and profitable fields of exertion, that I have 
here throAvn together the various facts relating to vegetable 
fibres, wliich I have collected during the ten years since the 
subject first arrested my attention. I lay but little claim to 
scientific accuracy, either of classification or of expression; my 
object being to address myself rather to practical men of gene- 
ral intelligence, who may desire to enter into a new department 
of jn'ofitable industry, than to botanists. At this time jiarticu- 
larly, when events have greatly circumscribed the sphere of 
Northern energy, skill, industry, and capital, and when the 
world is threatened with a deficient supply of cotton, the ques- 
tion not only of obtaining cotton from other sources than the 
slave-holding States of America, but also that of increasing our 
supply of fibrous materials of other kinds, available for similar 
purposes, and of opening new fields for our enterprise and 
commerce — at this time, all these have become questions of 
great, not to say vital, import. If the information -which I 
have before brought together, in coimection w'ith the opportune 
invention to which I have alluded, shaU in any way assist in 
the solution of these j)regnant questions, my object, in this 
publication, will be fully met. 



TROPICAL FIBRES. 



CHAPTEE I, 



EXTENT OF CONSUMPTION" AND MODES OF EXTEACTION. 

In their primitive condition, men clothed themselves in 
the skins of wild beasts, but when they "multiplied on the 
face of the earth," they were obliged to supply the deficient 
resources of the animal, from those of the vegetable king- 
dom. As they advanced in civilization, the thousand useful 
applications of vegetable fibres, not alone for clothing, but 
for cloth for tents, sails, and cordage for ships, and materials 
for paper, became gradually apparent, affording scope for 
invention and ingenuity in the arts, and employment for 
millions of human hands in the departments of production 
and manufacture. No one need be told how widely and 
intimately the production, manufacture, distribution, and 
sale of cotton, enter into the industry and commerce, and 
even into the social condition and political relations of the 
world at the present time. The story of its importance is 
told in the crash of the 300,000 busy looms, and the dizzy- 
ing whirl of the 30,000,000 of spindles of the British Islands, 
as well as in the hum of the less numerous but not less 
active manufactories of our own country. 

But cotton by no means supplies, nor docs it admit of 



10 TROnCAL FIBRES. 

sui)plying, many of tlic most important requirements of 
mankiiul, in tlie doparttnent of vegetable fibres. In none 
of it,s applications, can it equal in fineness the delicate cam- 
brics and muslins of Belgium, PVance, and India, nor can it 
be used for the coarse but powerful cordage with which the 
fleets of the world are rigged. The supply of fibres for 
these purposes has hitherto been chiefly obtained from the 
flax and hemp plants, but they also fail to meet the demands 
of the arts in respect of quantity, nor are their fibres equal 
in other important requisites, such as strength and durabilit}'", 
to those obtained from tropical plants more widely difl'used, 
more economical, and easier of production. 

Indeed, the supply of vegetable fibres from all sources, 
does not meet the present and increasing demands of manu- 
facture, and many of the most important articles of common 
use, such as paper, are steadily advancing in price, from an 
absolute and growing deficiency of fibrous materials. 

Whence is this deficiency to be supplied ? is a question 
which is more frequently and earnestly repeated with every 
succeeding year, and to which no satisfactory answer has 
yet been obtained. It is true, that naturalists, without ex- 
ception, have always pointed to the tropics, with its numer- 
ous and exhaustless varieties of endor/enoits plants, produc- 
ing foliaceous fibres, such as the agaves, bromelias, the 
palms, the plantains, etc., as capable, not only of supplying 
all existing or possible deficiencies, but as capable also, ot 
furnishing new and beautiful, as well as cheap materials, 
for new and useful manufactures. It is also true, that the 
production of fibres from tropical plants, has of late years 
rapidly increased, but not in a ratio equal to the demand 
for them, owing to the lack of simple, cheap, and eflicient 
machinery for extracting the fibres. Some notion of the 
extent of the present production and consumption of tropi- 
cal fibres may be formed from the following tables, which 
show the amount and value of such as are imported into the 
United States and Great Britain. It will be remembered, 
that these amounts are irrespective of those consumed by 
other countries, or by the people of the tropics themselves. 



EXTENT OF CONSUMPTION. 



11 



Table I. — Tropical Fibres imported into the United States for tlie 
year 18G0. (Custom-house valuations.) 



Manilla Hemp, 
Sisal Hemp, . 
Coir, etc., 
Gunny Bags, . 
" • Cloth, 



347,431 cwts., 

5,630 " 
112,585 " 



Total, 



$1,631,884* 

25,114 

163,039 

287,387 

1,795,256 

13,902,680 



Table II. — Tropical Fibres imported into Great Britain for the year 
1855. (Estimated real value.) 



KIND. 

Jute (Gunny), 
Manilla Hemp, 
Other Fibres, 

Total, . 



QFANTITT. 

539,297 cwts., 

92,755 " . 

8,591 " , 



640,643 



VALUE. 

$2,235,835 

1,443,495 

51,545 

$4,730,875 



Considerable, therefore, as has been the production of 
tropical fibres up to this time, yet the amount has been in- 
significant, considering the practically illimitable sources o± 
supply. The deficiency has resulted, as we have already 
had occasion to remark, from a lack of proper and economi- 
cal machinery for separating the fibres from the pulpy and 
woody materials, and the salts and gums with which they 
are mixed in their natural state. As will be seen when we 
come to speak of the production of Sisal and Manilla hemp, 
and of Indian fibres in particular, all the processes for 
extracting them, at present in use, are to the last degree 
primitive and inefficient. 

The native of Yucatan, in order to obtain the material 
known as iSisal hemj), laboriously splits open each leaf of 
the henneqnin plant, and then scrapes and rubs each section 



* It will be seen that the valuation of ]\Ianilla hemp in the custom-houses 
of the United States, according to the returns, is only about .$4 70 per cwt., 
while according to the consular returns from Manilla, the original cost there 
is $8 per cwt. The English official returns are computed on the estimated 
real value at the port delivered, and give this hemp a valuation of $1 1 25 
per cwt. At this rate, the value of. the import of tliis article into the United 
States for the year 18G0, would be $3,908,8-48, instead of $1,631,000. ' 



12 TROPICAL FIBRES. 

by band, until the pulpy and coloring matters are removed. 
Six pounds of fibre per day is the average product of his 
labor. 

The ahdca of the Philippine Islands, known to commerce 
as Maiiilh he)nj\ and of which nearly four millions of dol- 
lars' worth arc imported into the United States annually, is 
extracted from the foot-stalks of the plantain, by the slow 
and primitive process of pounding them with clubs of hard 
wood, until the porous and gummy matters are expelled, 
and then passing them frequently through a coarse hackle. 

The excellent fibre known as Xew Zealand honp is pre- 
pared from the leaves of a plant of the Lily famil}', either 
by beating them with mallets, or by a long and damaging 
process of drying, maceration, and hackling. 

In India, whore the natives, for centuries, have been accus- 
tomed to extract the fibres by the injurious process of rot- 
ting the numerous plants producing them, their masters and 
instructors, the English, as late as 1855, had no better im- 
provement to suggest to them than that of " heating the plants 
tvith a inallet, and then scraping them, in sinall hand/ids at a 
iime^ on a hoard, with a hluni tahle-hiife, or a long piece oj 
hoop iron, fastened in a straight handled 

The processes which have hitherto been adopted, in our 
own country of boasted mechanical ingenuitj'-, in extracting 
the fibres of that valuable plant, the Agave Sisislana, although 
in advance of those practiced in other countries for similar 
purposes, have nevertheless been exceedingly rude and im- 
perfect. The best process, that adopted by Mr. Dennis, of 
Key West, and published in the Patent Office Kcport for 
1856, consists in crushing the leaves of the plant, placing 
them in an open- work box to be washed by the flow and 
ebb of the sea for several days, and then beating them with 
sticks so as to clean the fibre. 

It may be laid down as an invariable rule, that an}- pro- 
cess for the extraction of vegetable fibres which involves 
fermentation, or what is known as rotting or retting, not only 
endangers and often destroys the strength of the fibres, but 
also discolors them, so as to render resort to chemical agents, 
which in turn further weakens them, indispensable in order 



IMPERFECT MODES OF EXTRACTION. 13 

to bring tliem back to tbe whiteness which they possess 
naturally, if extracted at the proper time and in the proper 
manner. On this point we cannot do better than adduce the 
testimony of Dr. G. T, Schaeffer, whose acquaintance with 
the subject qualifies him to speak with authority. He says : 
" With fibres drawn from plants of full activity of growth, 
in hot climates, the danger from excess of fermentation be- 
comes serious, for a few hours here may do damage which 
elsewhere it might require many days to occasion. /;; must 
he remarked^ too, that mcmy, if not indeed most fibres^ require 
for the attainment of a "proper degree of softness and delicacy, to 
be gathered before the full matitrity of the plants to which they 
belong. In proportion as this period is anticipated, will the 
nitrogenous or fermentable matter be present in greater 
quantity." 

Now, it has been ascertained, and the process of Mr. Mal- 
lory, referred to in the Introduction to this Memoir, is based 
on the fact that nearly all, if not all the fibres of the vege- 
table world are white, while the plants producing them are 
in their green or growing state, and that they are only dis- 
colored by the sap which holds the gummy and coloring 
matters of the plant in solution when the latter ripens 
and begins to decay, or b}' being exposed to the sun's rays. 
Natural or artificial heat has also the effect, more or less 
decided, of fixing the coloring matters of plants in their fibres. 

It is true, that the use of alkalies in treating fibres, either 
with or without pressure, in the process of boiling, will take 
out much of the gummy and coloring matters which they 
contain, but the heat will fix or set that which is left of a 
buff color, of greater or less depth, according to the strength 
of the alkaline bath used. This color is extremely difficult 
of extraction. If a strong solution of caustic alkali is used 
for the purpose, with a great degree of heat and pressure, 
the fibres become greatly expanded, and enough of the 
coloring matter will be destroyed to render the fibres of a 
light gray color, which, however, it will require the use of 
chlorine to get rid of entirely. It is easy to see that such 
processes for obtaining fibres perfectly white, are not only 
expensive, but damaging to the fibres themselves. 



14 TROPICAL FIDRES. 

A3 already said, the gummy, coloring, and other extrane- 
ous matters contained in ])lants, while in a green or growing 
state, are soluble in coltl water, and may be removed by- 
crushing the plants, and scraping, hackling, and washing 
them — a com])ound process wliich the machine, to which 
I have referred, performs ])erfi'ctly in a single o])eration. 
In other words, it does automatically, all that experience 
has shown to be requisite for the proper extraction of vege- 
table libres under the tropics, with the advantage of rapidity, 
whereby the fibres are preserved from the chemical action 
of the atmosphere.* 

" The <;iini lidd in solution in all i)lants wiiile in their green or growing 
Btntc, wlien dried into the fibres, renders them harsli, brittle, and more or 
less imtit for paper and textile purposes. It has been generally believed that 
the difference in appearance and degree of softness of the various kinds of 
fibres is owing to their diderence in nature; when, in fact, the real difl'erence 
in softness is generally due to the greater or less amount of gum still re- 
maining in them. 

Experience has i>roved that Slanilla henii) makes excellent paper, and the 
onl}- objection raised by jiajier makers to tlie general use of this stock, is its 
har.-^hness and the ditlieult y of Ijleaching it ]ierfeetly white ; all of which 
objections are now removed by the use of the Mallory process, witli tlie aid of 
the Sanford machine. I have recently seen some of the plantain fibre or 
Manilla hemp extracted under this process and by this machine, which came 
out almost perfectly white and nearly as soft as silk — proving, beyond a 
doubt, tlic correctness of the theory and practice described above. 



CHAPTER II. 

FIBROUS PLANTS OF AMERICA AND THE EAST INDIES. 

Of tropical fibrous plants, America produces indigenously 
her full share. Those of the pine-apple family, from which 
the delicate fabric known sxs jnna is manufactured, are pecu- 
liar to this continent, although they have been introduced 
on the old continent, where they flourish in such numbers 
as to constitute an important part of the Flora of the west 
coast of Africa, and of portions of the East Indies. 

The Bromelia sylvesiris, or wild pine-apple, which produces 
the silk-grass of the British West Indies, and the ^iia of 
Mexico and Central America, and which, from its hardy 
nature, luxuriant growth, and abundant and excellent fibre, 
seems entitled to rank first among all the fibre-producing 
plants of the tropical world, (the plantain possibly ex- 
cepted,) is still only found in its natural habitat, although 
there is no doubt it could be readily propagated in corres- 
ponding latitudes, all over the globe. All varieties of the 
Musa or plantain family produce good fibres, and experi- 
ment has shown that the peculiar variety which yields the 
celebrated Manilla grass, {Musa textilis,) although indigenous 
to the East Indies, nevertheless flourishes in tropical America 
and the Antilles, in as great luxuriance and perfection as in 
its native soil. The agaves, too, jDcrhaps the largest as they 
certainly are, taken collectively, the best and most abun- 
dantly producing fibre family of the globe, in their economic 
varieties, are also peculiar to America. The Agave Ameri- 
cana has been introduced into the southern part of Europe 
and into Algeria, and seems to flourish suflEiciently well to 
justify the belief that it may ultimatel}' contribute its share 
to the fibre crop of those countries. Its brothers, however, 
the useful Agave Mexicana or maguey, and the invaluable 



16 TROPICAL FIBRES. 

Agave Sisilana or hcnnequi/i, with its sub-varieties, arQ still 
peculiar to this continent. It is from the latter that the 
commodity known as SiwI Iionp is manufactured. Equally 
hardy with the wild pine-apple, {BromcUa sylvestris,) growing 
"well in every variety of soil, amongst rocks, and in arid 
wastes where almost every other form of vegetable life dis- 
appears, and producing an abundance of excellent fibres, 
it offers a source of supply of fibrous material, under an 
easy and economic method of extraction by machinery, 
only to be limited by the public demand. 

Leaving out of view, for the present, the fibre-bearing 
plants of the palm, lily, and screw-jDinc families, we can- 
not characterize the foliaceous fibres of the agaves, brome- 
lias, and plantains, in better, more truthful, or more concise 
language than that of a man who, before his sudden and 
melancholy death, had devoted many years of an active 
life to their. study and utilization : — 

"Lighter, stronger, more elastic, and more durable than 
the cortical fibres of hemp or flax, and produced by peren- 
nial self-propagation, in stony, sandy, or swampy surfaces, 
with the easiest and cheapest cultivation, and the speediest 
and simplest preparation, the relative and positive prices and 
properties of the foliaceous fibres of the agaves and the plan- 
tain, insure their substitution for cortical fibres in the gene- 
ral consumption of mankind."* 

' Letter of Dr. Henry Perrine, Consul of the U. S. in Yuentnn, dated Cam- 
peachy, Nov. 24, 1834, and directed to tlie .Secretary of Htate of the United 
States. In luakin;^ this refiTeiico, we shouhl do injustice to the memory of a 
wise, sftfjntious, and patriotic man, if we omitted to notice the cft'orts of Dr. 
Perrine to introduce the cultivation of the fibrous-leaved plants of the tropics 
into the United States. Durinjjj liis lonj^ residence in Campeachy he became 
acquainted with the manner of growth of these plants, tlie modes of cultivat- 
ing them, and the means of extracting their fibres, and conceive<l the idea of 
naturjili/.ing them in the Southern States. Having satisfied himself of the 
l)racti(ability of the enterjirise, he petitioned Congress in 1S.T7 to aid in car- 
rying it out on n largo scale. Ilia a|>plication was successful, and Congress 
l>aas«ti n bill, giving to him and his as.sociales, under the name of the " Trojii- 
cal Plant Company," the prt»-emption right to (hirty-six sections of hind situated 
in East Florida, below the parallel of 2«» north latitude. Small jilantations 
were at once connnenced at Cape Florida, and other j.oints in its neighbor- 
hood, into wluch a variety of phuita from Central America were intio- 



PLANTS OF AMEKICA AND THE EAST INDIES. 17 

The agaves and bromelias, indigenous to this continent, 
supply better substitutes for flax and hemp than any of the 
old-world plants, while the fibre of the banana or plantain 
can be produced here in as great perfection, and with as 
much ease, as in the Philippine Islands, or any other part of 
the East. Yet, as will be seen by reference to foregoing ta- 
bles, the United States imports annually nearly four millions 
of dollars' worth of East Indian fibres, against less than 
one hundred thousand dollars' worth from the tropical re- 
gions of America. This is, no doubt, in great part due to 
the circumstance, that manual labor is cheaper and more 
abundant in the East than in America, and that consequently 
fibres can be more cheaply and abundantly produced there, 
by the slow and laborious hand-processes hitherto in use. 
But if the great desideratum of simple and efiicient ma- 
chinery for separating foliaceous and other fibres can be met, 
there is no doubt that our supplies would be obtained nearer 
home, in greater abundance and at less cost than is now pos- 
sible. 

The celebrated Spanish naturalist, Don Eamon de la Sagra, 
has given a list of plants, which are suitable for cloth, indi- 
genous to Cuba, with their local names. Leaving out cotton, 
I subjoin the list, with such information regarding the res- 
pective plants as is accessible. 

1. CaMmo de Senegal {Hibiscus cannabi?ii(s), also called cariamazo. 
The coarse cloth made from it is used in some parts of the island for 



duced. Among these vrere three or four species of the agave, including the 
varieties producing the Sisal hemp, the njagucy or pulque agave, the cochi- 
neal cactus, paper mulberry, date palm, etc. All these succeeded well, and 
the enterprise promised the happiest results, when the hostilities of the In- 
dians, consequent on the Seminole war, compelled the abandonment of the 
plantations. Dr. Perrine, however, whose whole soul was devoted to his im- 
dertaking. returned, after an interval, and was subsequently killed by the sav- 
ages. The plants were then neglected, and many of them destroyed ; but 
those that wcje left have flourished and propagated themselves extensively. 
Although he did not live to see the fruition of his plans. Dr. Perrine, never- 
theless, established the fact that nearly all, if not all, the fibrous plants of 
Central Am.eriea and Mexico flourish freely in the Peninsula of Florida, as 
they no doubt would also flourish, if introduced into the adjacent States to 
the northward. 
2 



18 nUH'ICAL FIBRES. 

clotliiiig the bhive3, and is called eoleta. The ^iliru is that kiipwii in 
India as minnee, or sun hemp. See Jlalra, or Mullowfnmilij. 

2. Ceiha {Bomhnx ceiba), or silk-cotton tree, jiroduciiif,' a variety of 
cotton, only useful for stuHinj,' pillows, etc., the tihres not adhering to 
each other. It is said that this product has heen used in making hats. 

3. Chichimstre {Urtica bacci/era), a wild shruh, of the I'rtica, or 
Nettle family, also called chichicate. See Urtica^ or Kettle family. 

4. DatjutUa {Lagctta lintiaria, or Dajihne lagetta^ of the natural 
' order T/ii/niehr), ii a forest tree, growing to the Jieight of thirty feet, 

and two feet in thickness. Its inner hark, when cut in thin jMcces, after 
maceration assumes a beautiful net-like appearance, and is used hy the 
natives for aprons, collars, caps, etc. Its fibres are also used for cloth 
and cordage. The bark of many of the plants of this family is made 
into ropes and pajjcr. Specimens of the lace-bark hero described are 
often seen in the United States, in the form of bands around bunches 
of Havana cigars. 

5. Fl»r lie calcntura (Asclepias ctirsaticn), a wild plant, growing in 
every kind of soil, more i)articuhu-ly in humid ])laces. It i>roduces bril- 
liant llowers, and disciiarges, on being cut, a caustic, milky juice, used as 
a jjurgativo in medicine. Its bark is fibrous, and is made into cordage. 
The Jetec, or Tonyooae fibre of Aladras, is from the stems of Aaclcpins 
tcuacmima, a member of the same natural order, if not the same plant 
■with the above. 

C. Guamd^ or Gambusino (Lonchocarpoa tenax). See Leguminoace. 

7. Guizazo (Triumjjhita Semitriloha et Ilataneme). See Tilia, or 
Lime-tree fa mily. 

8. Jaguey (Fkus indica). See Urtica^ or Kettle family. 

9. Majdgiia {Jlihiscus tiliaceus). See Malra, or Mallow family. 

10. Maltatc (CorcJioriis siliquosns). See 7'iliacefP. 

11. Pail de Mono {Adamonia digitata ; Natural Order Sterculiac^a), 
the Baobab tree of Senegal. 

12. Piiln {Bromelia ananas). See Broinelia family. 

13. Pihuella {Bromelia pita, or karatag?) See as above. 
\\. Pita {Furcra'afostida ?) Sec as above. 

15. Pita de Corojo. See Palm family. 

10. Platano. See Musa family. 

17. Quimbombo {Ilibbtats escnlentus). See Malta, or Mallow family. 

Seeman, in Lis " Botany of llic Isthmus of Panama," 
page 70, has tlic following paragraph on the economical 
fibres of Panama : 

" The cordage which the people of the Isthmus use, is solely pro- 
duced from indigenous jjlants. The best and whitest rope'is made 
from the librc of the cortcza, {Apeiba Tibourbon, Nat. Ord. Tiliacea.) 



PLANTS OF AMERICA AND THE EAST INDIES. 19 

A brow-nij;li looking rope easily aftected by dampness, probably because 
the tree from which it is taken has saline properties, is manufactured 
from the Majngua ile plwja {Paritium tiliaceum, Hibiscus tiliaceus'LA) 
The Barrigon (Pachira l>arrigon\ and the Malagueto hcmlra (Xylojna 
frutescens), also yields a fibre fit for ropes. The hammocks of Veraguas, 
consist of the fibres of the Cahuya {Agave s]).), and those of a palm 
called Chonta. A strong fibre is contained in the leaves of the Pita 
de zaiyateros {Bromelia sp.^ which is prepared like flax, woven into 
bags or chacaras by the different Indian tribes, and extensively used 
by the shoemakers for sewing. The fibre surrounding the wood of the 
Ci(cna or Namagxia, [Daphne lagetta ?] forms a close texture of regular 
natural matting, which the natives soak in water, beat, and make into 
garments, beds, and ropes, or use as sails for their canoes. The mats 
which the poorer people sleep on, are made from the fibres of the 
plantain." 

The East Indies, although by no means as rich in fibrous 
endogens, as tropical America, is nevertheless rich in exoge- 
nous plants, producing useful and abundant fibres, of which 
Great Britain imports annually upwards of $3,000,000 worth, 
and the United States, upwards of $4,000,000 worth annu- 
ally. The processes employed in extracting these various 
fibres are exceedingly primitive and slow, as will appear 
from the following descriptions, and warrant the belief that 
with cheap and simple machinery, the present production 
could be increased ten-fold. 

The usual process followed for preparing the fibres of 
succulent, fleshy plants, consists in cutting them when in 
full vigor, and burying them in wet sand on the banks of a 
running stream, or in mud at the edge of a pool or tank, 
and leaving them to soak, or rot for one, two or three weeks, 
according to the temperature of the weather. The plants 
are then taken out, dried in the sun, and beaten with 
heavy sticks on the dry hard ground, and well rubbed be- 
tween the hands to separate the chaff and dust. Another 
method is to take the soaked plants in bundles, and beat out 
the pulp and impurities on a flat stone, at the edge of a tank 
or on the shores of a river. 

The fibres of the Marool^ {Sanseviera Zeylanica) are ob- 
tained by scraping and washing in fresh water, soon after 
the plant is cut. Those of the Yercum^ {Calotrojois gigantea) 



20 TROPICAL FIBRES. 

arc obtnincd by stripping the plant of its leaves, exposing it 
to the sun for several days, and then peeling off the bark 
and picking out the fibres between the thumb and fore-finger. 
The Singapore Free-Press^ in describing these processes 
very justly observes : — 

" The system of cleaning fibres by rotting is not suited to warm 
climates, inasimich as putrefaction sets in almost as soon as fermenta- 
tion ; and while one part «)f a heap of stalks is beginninjr to ferment, 
another ])art is stained from ])Utridit7, while the central jiarls remain 
fresh and unaltered. To preserve the color and strength of thcjihrcs it 
is necessary to separate the jml]), barl; or tcood, as soon as jtossihle^ and 
by the least complicated 2>rocess. The pulp or juices of plants usually 
contain mucilajre, starch, or gum, which begin to ferment within twenty- 
four hours after the i)lant is cut ; and if they be left in water during 
warm weather, fermentation is completed within two or three days. 
In cold climates it takes as many weeks. The result is that the sap 
becomes acid, and destroys the strength of the fibre. This is followed 
by jiutrefaction, which not only stains tlie fibre, but makes it brown 
and brittle. 

" If the plant is left exposed to the sun for a day or two after being 
cut^ the sap dries, and the coloring matter stains the fibre, which 
cannot then bo easily separated from the bark, spiral cells, nor woody 
materials. In some plants this discoloration is green, in others brown 
or dnsky yellow, which cannot be removed by bleaching, as it is a 
species of natural tanning inherent in the i)lant. Such' fibres always 
remain stiff, harsh, and woody, with a tendency to snap on a sudden 
strain. The jOantain fibre (Manilla hemp,) is liable to this defect, 
which can only be obviated by expressing the juice as quickly as possi- 
ble, and only cutting as umch of the plant as can be cleaned in a 
single day. 

" The proper mode of cleaning the fibres of pulpy plants is to crush 
them between rollers, those of the common sugar mill will answer, 
and while the fibres are in this condition, seize them at both ends, and 
twist them in opposite ways to siiueeze out the sap. They are then to 
be Well washed in water, untwisted and scraped, in small handfuls 
at a time, on a board, with a blunt table knife, or a long piece of hoop 
iron, fastened in a straight handle. ^Vhen all iinjiurities have been 
r(fcmoved, the fibres should be soaked for an hour or two in clean 
water, and then hung up in the shade to dry. Exposure to the sun, 
at ficst, is apt to discolor them. Hy this process fibres of great strength, 
of a silky appearance and good colt>r, can readily be procured. The 
scrapings should be well washed and jmt aside in the shade to dry 
a.s tow for packing or as materials for paper.*' 

"The Indian plants, to the cleaning of which this process is opplica- 



PLANTS OF AMERICA AND TUE EAST INDIES. 21 

ble, are those of a fleshy or pulpy nature, such as the aloe, agave, sau- 
seviera, and plantain genera, of which there are many species. The 
prices in England for Indian fibres thus cleaned, vary from $125 to $350 
per ton; while the same fibres, cleaned by the rotting process bring, 
only from §60 to $90 per ton, and are said to be only suitable for the 
manufacture of coarse twine, or brown packing paper. The finest 
plantain fibre (llanilla hemp), when carefully cleaned and dressed, is 
said to be suited for the imitation of silk in carriage-braid and carpet 
work. Its average value is $250 per ton, while Russia hemp is selling 
at $200 per ton. » 

" Many of the Indian cordage plants are those having bark and woody 
fibres, and the native process of cleaning is very similar to that of clean- 
ing the plants already mentioned, viz. : by burying them in wet sand or 
mud, and leaving them to rot. There is this difference, however, that 
the plants are steeped longer, and are never exposed to the sun to dry. 
If this were done, the woody portions would get hard and brittle, and 
adhere to the outer fibre, which, being partially rotten, would break in 
the cleaning. To obviate this, the rotted plants are taken up in large 
handfuls and beaten on flat stones, first at one end and then at the 
other, in the same way that clothes are washed by washerwomen. 
They are next well rubbed and washed to separate impurities, and 
spread on the ground to dry. We can hardly wonder, therefore, that 
most of the cordage made from fibres prepared in this rude, coarse way, 
should be dark in color, and of little strength and value. As a rule, 
every day's steeping of a fibre takes from its strength and discolors it. 
To obviate this, woody plants should be first well beaten with a mallet, 
and then the bark separated from the stalk, for it is on the inner side of 
the bark that the fibres for cordage usually occur. When the bark is 
brought to a pulpy state, it should be well washed in clean water, to 
remove as much of the sap as possible, for this is the destructive agent, 
which soon causes putrefaction." 

Dr. Royle, whose work on cotton is well known in this 
country, has published a work on the fibres of India fit for 
cordage, which, however, I have been unable to consult. 
The following tables of the comparative strength of these 
fibres are from experiments made by Dr. Roxburgh in 1808, 
and Dr. Wright at a later period : 

According to Dr. Roxburgh's experiments : 

POPCLAR NAME. 6EIENTIFIC NAME. BREAKING TTEIGnT. 

Bowstring hemp, Asclepias sp 248 lbs. 

Caloee hemp, Urtica nesia 240 " 

Sun hemp, Crotalaria juncea 160 " 



22 



TKOriCAL FIRRi:a. 



|H)prLAP. NAME. 

Sun hemp, 
Ileiuji ( Imlinn), 
Domha, 



Musat paat, 

Bunphi, 

Plantain. 



§riE?!nFIC XAVK. DEEAKIXG^'WriOHT 

Crotalaria capsularius 1 (l-i lbs. 

Cannabis saliva loS " 

Aeschynonione cannabinus i:]S " 

Hibiscus strictus 128 " 

Hibiscus cannabinus 115 •' 

Corchorus olitorius 113 " 

Musa 79 " 



According to Dr. Wright's cxjDcriments : 

rOPULAB HAilX. BCIKNTIFIC KAUE. BEEAKING WEIGUT. 

Yercum nar, Calotropis gigantea uoi lbs. 

Janapun or Sun, Crotalaria juncca 407 ", 

C'atthaLiy nar, Agave Americana ."02 " 

Cotton, Gossypium 34(3 " 

^arool, Sanseviera zeylanica 316 " 

Hibiscus cannabinus 290 " 

Coir, Cocos nucifcra 224 " 



CHAPTER III. 

FIBEE-PRODUCING PLANTS. 

All vegetable fibres used for textile purposes, resolve 
themselves into three great classes, viz. : Foliaceous fibres, 
Cortical fibres, and Capsular fibres. 

1. Foliaceous fibres. These are obtained from Endogenous 
or Monoctylcdonous plants, or inside-growers, which are best 
known to us in their herbaceous forms, such as the grasses, 
including the cereals, sugar-cane, and the common cane, as 
also the lily, the cat-briar, and all plants in which the leaves 
have parallel veins. Under and near the tropics, the en- 
dogens are represented by the yuccas, the agaves, the 
plantain, and the great family of palms. These plants do 
not form a regular bark, show no signs of annual growth, 
and do not increase by continual additions to the outside of 
the stem, as is the case with the trees common to our cli- 
mate. Their fibres are imbedded in the cellular tissues 
and pulpy matter of their stems and leaves, and may in 
most, if not all cases, be extracted by a purely mechanical 
process. The fibres known as Manilla hemp, Sisal hemp, 
silk-grass, etc., are obtained from plants of this class. It is 
only in tropical and sub-tropical regions that endogenous 
j)lants attain any great development, take arborescent forms, 
or yield fibres suitable for textile purposes. To an inhabi- 
tant of the Northern temperate zone, an endogenous plant 
of which the green leaves yield valuable fibres, is a curiosity 
only to be seen in conservatories or botanical gardens. 

2. Cortical fibres. These are obtained from what are 
botanically known as Exogenous or Dicotyledonous plants, or 
outside-growers, and are contained in their bark or hast. They 
are often of great length, but little hardened, and with the 



24: TKOriCAL KIBKKS. 

exception of cotton, arc the most valuable produced in ^tem- 
perate climates. Some of the plants of this class attain 
great size. A familiar example is the linden {Im.ss or bast- 
tcood) of Europe and our own country, and the wild-fig or 
banyan tree of the tropics. A greater number, however, 
are herbaceous, such as most of the Mallows^ (in which is 
embraced the cotton plant,) a large part of the Uriica or 
nettle family, (embracing the familiar hemp,) the Linacea or 
flax ftmiily, and some varieties of the L&junnnosifi or pea 
and bean tribe, such as the Crotalari'a juncea, which supplies 
the Sun or Bengal hemp. The stems of these plants consist 
of a woody core, surrounded by a sheath of fibrous texture, 
and the two are connected by a peculiar vegetable glue, 
which unites them in a solid stem. In the preparation of 
flax, hemp, China-grass, etc., the object is to remove this 
matter, and thus separate the useless stem from the valuable 
external sheath of fibres. 

3. Capsular fibres. These, as the name indicates, are 
obtained from pods or capsules. Cotton, a familiar type of 
this class, is found in the capsules of the Gossypium, envelop- 
ing the seeds, and in nearly all cases closely adhering to 
them. 

AVith these general observations, we proceed to notice the 
plants of the two great natural divisions, the exogens and 
endogeris, which are most valuable for their fibres, as nearly 
as possible in the order of their importance — giving the lead- 
ing place to the eiidogens as essentially tropical, and as 
ofibring the widest opportunity for an increased production 
of fibres through the aid of proper machinery. 



CHAPTER lY. 

ENDOGENOUS PLANTS, 



Six orders of the endogens yield fibres whicli are commer- 
cially valuable, viz, : 1st, the Agave or Amaryllis family ; 
2d, the Bromelia or pineapple family ; 3d, the Musa or 
plantain family ; 4th, the Yucca or lily family ; 5th, the 
Palm family ; and 6th, the Pandancese or screw-pine family. 



I. — Agave, or Amaryllis Family. 

Many of the plants belonging to this family produce ex- 
cellent fibres, in great abundance, and are indigenous in all 
parts of tropical and inter-tropical America, over a broad 
belt of at least 33° on each side of the equator, from Yir- 
ginia on the north, to Paraguay on the south. They are 
easily cultivated, hardy, and flourish equally in the richest 
and in the most sterile soils. Indeed, in thousands of places, 
where rocky, indurated, and sandy and arid soils prohibit 
every other kind of vegetation, the agaves find root and a 
vigorous growth. Several varieties are indigenous in the 
United States, such as the Agave Virginica^ which is found 
in the worst soils from the Potomac to the Mississippi, and 
the A. viviixra^ which is found in Florida, and perhaps in 
some of the other States fronting on the Gulf of Mexico. It 
is, however, under the tropics proper, throughout Mexico, 
Central America, the northern States of South America, and 
in the West Indies, that the agaves are most abundant, and 
may be multiplied to any extent necessary to meet the de- 
mands of the world for the kind of fibres which they pro- 
duce. 



26 TROPICAL FIBKE8. 

Several varieties of the Mexican and Central Ame]:ican 
agaves were introduced into Florida a number of years ago, 
by Dr. Ilcnry Perrine, and were found to flourish luxuriant- 
ly ; but their cultivation does not seem to have been followed 
uj), probably because of the lack of cheap and efiicicnt ma- 
chinery for separating the fibre. 

The fibres extracted from the agaves differ widely in fine- 
ness and consequent value, altliough all are available for 
cloth, cordage, and paper. The fibre, it is said, also varies 
considerably with the age of the plant, being most pliable 
and easily worked if taken when the plant is young. 

Superficial writers and travellers have caused great confu- 
sion and uncertainty in respect of the agaves, by confound- 
ing the difterent species, and their contradictions have much 
embarrassed practical men in their calculations and cltbrts 
for utilizing them. This uncertainty and confusion have 
been greatly increased by the different and difficult names 
(generally Indian) by which the agaves are distinguished in 
the various parts of the continent. • In Mexico the different 
varieties are called Muguey^ Maguey de Pulque^ Metl, Cubidla, 
HtnnKfnii^ Sosquil, etc. ; in Yucatan and Central America, 
Henntquin, Cabtdla, Pita, Yashqui, iSacqui, etc. ; in Cuba, 
Maya, Ilennequin, Pita, Pifion, etc. ; in Venezuela and New 
Granada, Cocuy, Cocuiza, etc. ; and in Brazil, GrauxUha, etc. 
Great confusion also exists in the names of the fibres ex- 
tracted from the Agaves and those taken from the Bromelias, 
or plants of the Pine Apple family, which are often con- 
founded, even in the countries where they are produced. 
The following descriptions, however, will serve to correct, in 
part at least, some of the mistakes in these respects. 

Clavijero, in his History of Mexico, has epitomized the uses 
of the various kinds of agaves of that country, in the fallow- 
ing language : 

"Some species furnish protecting inclosurcs, and afford 
impassable hedges to other objects of cultivation. From the 
juice of others are extracted honey, sugar, vincgc^r, pidqiiCy 
and ardent spirits. From the trunk and the tliickest part of 
the leaves, roasted in the earth, an agreeable food is obtained. 
The flowering stalks serve as beams, and the leaves as roofs 



ENDOGENOUS PLANTS. 27 

for bouses. The thorns answer for lancets, awls, needles, 
arrow heads, and other cutting and penetrating instruments. 
But the fibrous substance of the leaves is the most important 
gift of the agaves to Mexico. According to the species, the 
fibre varies in quality from the coarsest hemp to the finest 
flax, and may be employed as a superior substitute for both. 
From it the ancient Mexicans fabricated their thread and 
cordage, mats and bagging, shoes and clothing, and webs 
equivalent to cambric and canvas ; the hammocks in which 
they are born, repose, and die ; the paper on which they 
painted their histories, and with which they adored and 
adorned their gods. The value of the agaves is enhanced by 
their indifference to soil, climate, and season ; by the sim- 
plicity of their cultivation, and by the facility of extracting 
and preparing their products. It is not, therefore, surprising 
that the ancient Mexicans used some part or preparation of 
these plants in their civil, military, and religious ceremonies, 
at marriages and deaths, nor that they perpetuated an allu- 
sion to their properties in the name of their capitol." 

1. Agave Sisilana, so called from the city of Sisal, in 
Yucatan, whence the fibre, extracted slowly by hand, has 
found its way to market under the name of Sisal hemj), or 
grass hemp. 

This plant, called Sosquil in Mexico, and Gahulla in Cen- 
tral America, is indigenous in every part of tropical Ameri- 
ca, and may be cultivated with the greatest ease, to any de- 
sirable extent, as well on the very stony surfaces of the 
interior, as on the very sandy soils of the coast. There are 
two varieties, distinguished in Yucatan as the Yashqui henne- 
qidn, which produced the best quality of Sisal hemp, and 
the Sacqui hennequin, which gives the greatest quantity. In 
Central America the fibre of both these varieties is called 
Cahidla, and is used for cordage ; while the fibre of the Bro- 
rhelia sylvesiris, distinguished as ^J^Va, is fine, and used for 
thread and cloth. Both are admirably adapted for the man- 
ufacture of paper of toughness and beauty. 

Plate I, represents the Yashqui variety of the Agave Sisil- 



28 TROPICAL FIBRES. 

ana, after its first crop of lower leaves has been cut oflC for 
manufacture. It has thick, fleshy leaves, without the spines, 
or serrated edges which characterize most of the Bromelias. 
They vary in length from five to twelve feet, and in width 
from three to five inches, the fibres riinning the whole length. 

The wood cut, Fi'j. 1 represents a leaf cut green and per- 
fect from the stalk. 

Fiij. 2 represents the same leaf, with its fibres exposed from 
the point a a, by means of a triangular wooden scraper, Fi<j. 
3, which is used by the Indians in removing the pulpy part 
of the leaf. 

Fiij. 4 is a notched wooden instrument, used in splitting 
the leaf into strips, five or six in number, each of which is 
afterward worked by the triangular scraper, which is used 
after the manner of a currier's shaving knife. 

By this primitive process all the Sisal hemp brought to 
market, as well as the infinitely larger quantity used by the 
natives themselves, is slowly and laboriously extracted. The 
workmen obtain only from five to six pounds per day. 

In the communication made to the government by Dr. II, 
Perrine, in 1834:, and already referred to, that ofiicer speaks 
of the Yasliqui hennequin as follows : 

" I beg the department to reflect on the fact that the very 
strong, light, durable fibres of this plant, extracted from the 
fresh leaves by simple scraping, are immediately converted 
into cheap cloth for bagging, etc., without spinning, twisting, 
or any intermediate preparation or fabrication whatever. By 
the quadruple properties united in the single untwisted, 
foliaceous fibres of hennequin, they become a superior substi- 
tute for the compound, twisted, cortical fibres of hemp, in 
the manufacture of many coarse articles of extensive con- 
sumption, hitherto woven of spun thread, and will furnish 
cheaper equivalents for baling and envelopes in general, 
than any other kind of extracted fibres, or any other mate- 
rial that can be woven, netted, matted, or plaited, except 
dried, undressed fibrous leaves. Indeed, they arc here used 
instead of hair for sieves ; instead of withes for baskets ; in- 
stead of leather and wood for valises and trunks, and even as 




w'Ti 



Fig 4. 





Fig. 



Fig. 1. 



30 TROPICAL PLANTS. 

curious substitutes for glass and clay in the shape of bottles, 
bowls, cups, and saucers. Hence I believe that if introduced 
into the United States, the fibres of the hennrquiu would 
Speedily be converted into a thousand forms of ornament 
and utility, all combining cheapness, strength, lightness, and 
durability." 

The method of cultivating the Agave Smlafia, and of 
preparing its fibres, as practiced in Yucatan, are described 
as follows, in the Illustrated Report of the Great Exhibition 
in New York, in 1853 : — 

" The young plants are placed about twelve feet apart, a 
stony or sandy location being preferred. During the first 
two years some labor is required to destroy the weeds be- 
tween them. The shoots when transplanted should be about 
three feet high, and are ready to yield two years afterwards. 
The third year the cutting of the lower leaves is commenced, 
and every four months the operation is repeated. Each 
robust plant is capable of yielding from 25 to 100 leaves 
annually, and will last from five to ten years. Seventy-five 
ordinary leaves a^e estimated to yield seven and a half 
pounds of fibre ; the most productive leaves being from the 
fourth cutting. At intervals of two years, shoots are thrown 
out from the roots, from five to ten in number, in a state to 
be transplanted. These are removed with a single excep- 
tion, to form new plantations, and the parent plant is also 
cut down, when the shoot left has grown suflieiently to sup- 
ply its place. If the parent plant be suffered to grow, it 
eventually shoots up into gigantic flower stalks, from 20 to 
30 feet in height, with its superior extremity covered with 
innumerable little plants, called hennequenitos^ little henne- 
quins. The hardiness of the young shoots may be inferred 
from the fact that when cut from the parent stem, they are 
exposed to the sun for fifteen or twenty days, to ' eicaterize 
ihelr wowuls^ as a necessary preparation for replanting. 
' The simplicity of their cultivation,' says a writer on this 
subjoct in 1838, ' may be conceived from the statement that 
there is not a hoe, nor a spade, nor a harrow, nor a plough, 
employed in the agriculture of all Yucatan.' 

"The instruments and' methods used by the natives of 



ENDOGENOUS PLANTS. 31 

Yucatan for extracting the fibres from the leaves, are of 
the rudest description. A triangular strip of hard wood, 
with sharp edges from eight to twelve inches long, and 
from one to three inches thick, is with them an equivalent 
to the shaving-knife of the curriers, by which they scrape 
away from each side of the leaf, on a board resting against 
the breast, the cuticle or pul^^y substance that covers the 
fibres. Another mode of accomplishing the same object is, 
by pressing the sharp, semi-lunar extremity of a long flat 
stick against any fixed surface upon a narrow longitudinal 
strip of the leaf, which is then drawn through by the unem- 
ployed hand. The length, weight, strength, and other quali- 
ties of the fibres, as well as the labor of separating them, 
vary with the magnitude, age, and position of the leaves. 
The fibres, after being freed from the investing pulpy matter, 
are w^ashed and dried in the sun, which thus completes the 
labor of preparation, and the Sisal hemp is then ready for 
market. 

" One great difficulty in Yucatan, has been the want of a 
proper machine for suitably cleaning out the fibres of the 
Agave from their enveloping tissues ; the rude process fol- 
lowed by the natives being too slow and expensive. An 
Indian with his sharp stick only, and indolent habits, will 
generally clean from four to eight lbs. per diem. A few 
years since a machine was invented in Massachusetts, for 
cleaning the fibres, and sent out to Merida, hy a Boston 
firm, having large commercial dealing with that city. The 
machine is understood to have worked well, but the vegeta- 
ble acid generated by the fermentation of the expressed 
juice of the leaves, corroded the metallic parts of the ma- 
chine it was brought in contact with, to such an extent as 
to render them useless. The plan had consequently to be 
abandoned. Within the past year (1852), a chemical process 
has been discovered, which dissolves the green, fleshy part 
of the leaves, which the fibres remain intact, and after wash- 
ing are ready for use." 

Dr. Perrine, an enthusiast in the matter of tropical fibre- 
producing plants, succeeded in 1838, in introducing into 
Florida, the Agave Slsilcma, as also the Pulque plant, or 



32 TKOI'ICAL FIBUE.S. 

Agave Mexlcana^ and tli(3 Centu/y-plant or Agave AmeH- 
cana. According to a statement from ^fr. W. C. Dennis, 
of Key West, jniblished in tlic Report of the Patent Office 
for 1855, both the Agave Americana and Mc.ricana tlius 
introduced, not only survived the change of climate, but in- 
creased rapidly, until they were destroyed by an incursion 
of the Seminole Indians, in 1846. Of the three varieties, 
Mr. Dennis, after expressing his belief that the })lant produc- 
ing the Sisal hemp, is of most importance in an economical 
point of view, proceeds : 

" This gigantic ])lant delights in dried, rocky land con- 
taining an abundance of lime, and there are thousands of 
acres of land in this region, worthless for every other agri- 
cultural purposes, on which a ton of cleaned Sisal hemp 
might be produced 3'early, after the plant has reached an 
age to allow of cutting off its lower leaves, which would be 
in from three to five years according to circumstances. 
Neither the growth of the plant nor the amount of its pro- 
duet here, is any longer an experiment. Nor is there any 
longer a doubt as regards the value of the fibre, a number 
of tons of it having been collected and sent to market, 
where it readily brought within half a cent per pound, as 
much as the best Manilla hemp, that is about $250 per ton. 
A thousand plants should be set to the acre, and from the 
constant shoots which spring up, it will be seen that the 
same land will not require replanting. After the plant is 
of suflicient growth, the lower leaves are cut off, at proper 
times, leaving enough on top to keep it healthy. These 
leaves arc composed of a soft watery pulp, and are from 
two to six feet long, from four to six inches wide in the 
middle, and frequently three inches thick at the butt ; hav- 
ing the general shape of the head of a lance. They contain 
a gum which is the chief cause of their being rather trouble- 
some in se})arating the fibres from the pul[\ Neither the 
epidcymis nor the pulp is more than a powder, after becom- 
ing dry, if the gum be entirely crushed or washed out. 
This is a most important fact, in relation to the manner to 
be adopted to cleanse the fibres from the jiulp. As these 
are continuous and parallel, and imbedded in the pulp, I 



ENDOGENOUS PLANTS. 33 

feel certain that a system of passing the leaves througli a 
series of heavy iron rollers, firml}^ set, something like those 
of a sugar mill, and throwing water on the crushed leaves, 
in jets or otherwise, in sufficient quantities to wash out the 
gum, (which is perfectly soluble in water) will thoroughly 
clean the fibres without loss, so that when they become dry, 
and have been beaten to get out the dust, they will be fit 
for market. At any rate, the rigid plan for separating tlie. 
jibres has not yet heen discovered, although there has heen 
enough done in it to show that they can he got out at a profit. 
Here, the people either preserve the primitive process which 
is practiced in Yucatan, of beating and scraping the leaves, 
or, after crushing them between a pair of rollers, steeping them 
in an alkaline solution for a few days, and then hackling 
them. But both scraping and combing destroys too many 
of the fibres by breaking them, which would not be done 
by a system of rolling and washing out the gum. In Yuca- 
tan, they sometimes ferment the beaten leaves in water or 
mud ; but this stains and weakens the fibres so as to reduce 
their value, I believe, more than half Even steeping the 
crushed leaves in an alkaline pickle, although it may not 
much weaken the fibres, as the juice of the leaves is acid, 
nevertheless destroys the silky gloss which they possess 
when got out of the fresh leaves, by the aid of pure water 
alone, besides increasing the cost of extraction. I have 
some fifty acres of the plant under cultivation, and am in- 
creasing the quantity as I have opportunity." 

In a subsequent communication to the Patent Office, pub- 
lished in its Report for 1856, Mr. Dennis gives some addi- 
tional information concerning the cultivation of the Agave 
iSisikma in Florida, as follows : 

" Mr. Herraonds, of Indian River (Florida), informs me^ 
that the Sisal hemp grows well there, and has continued tO' 
thrive well for four years. He thinks that my estimate of a 
ton of fibre per acre is too low. The experiments which I 
have made during the past year, in getting out a number 
of tons of this fibre, prove that all the vesicles of the leaves 
are ruptured by crushing or rolling, and that the pulp' 
or gum can easily be washed out by either salt water or- 
3 



34 TROPICAL FIBRES. 

fresh. The plan which I have found most successful, was to 
wet the leaves, being careful to rupture all the vessels, then 
confine these crushed leaves in an open-work wooden frame 
or box, which I placed in such a manner that the tide forced 
the sea- water through them both at the ebb and flow. In 
this manner the gum and pulp were so far washed out, in 
from three to six da3's (according to the temperature of the 
air and water), that by beating the fibres a little, they were 
fit for market. 

" Mr. Ilermonds mentions, as a tested fact, that steeping the 
crushed leaves in boiling water, even for a few minutes, at 
once dissolved the gum and cleaned the fibre. This renders 
it almost certain that where a steam-engine is used to propel 
rollers and crush the leaves, the waste steam can be rendered 
effective to clean the hemp, by blowing it off between the 
rollers, aided by a little water, in a jet, while the leaves are 
passing through." — A raistaJce. See Ante,j). 13. 

The amount of Sisal hemp imported into the United States 
in 1854, was 925,900 lbs., valued at the Custom-house, at 
$64,516, but having a real value of upwards of $100,000. 

There is a species of A'jave which is akin to the >Sisilana, 
having also thicl\ jieshrj^ non-spinated leaves, known as Fur- 
crcea girjantm. See Plate 11. A variety of it, the Furcrcea 
fu'tiila^ grows in Cuba, and is said to yield valuable foliaceous 
fibr.:s. Its leaves, however, seldom exceed three feet in length. 

2. Agave Mcxicana, or Magueij^ sometimes called Pulque 
Agave, is one of the most remarkable, as well as one of the 
most useful of the Agaves. From its developing stalk it 
yields a sweet liquor, called j^ulque, which, when fermented, 
gives an intoxicating drink, used by the Mexicans in place 
of beer, wine, and cider. Its leaves also furnish a good 
fibre, fit for various manufactures, particularly for paper. 

Plate III. shows the plant when the developing central 
stalk is cut away and scooped out, forming a natural reser- 
voir, into which the .sap or juice distils. It will be seen that 
the lOaf is thick and fleshy, broader than that of the Agave 
Sisilaiui, and not so long, and moreover, having saw or scol- 
loped sharp edges. 

The Maguey is chiefly cultivated in Mexico for its juice. 



ENDOGENOUS PLANTS. 35 

The plants are set in rows, about five feet apart. When the 
hampe, or central stem, which often attains the height of forty 
or fifty feet, is on the point of efiiorescencc, it is cut out, and 
a hollow scooped for receiving the sap. This keeps running 
for two or three months, the reservoir being emptied three 
or four times a day. The yield from a vigorous plant is 
about four hundred cubic English, inches per day, or, for the 
period of yield, from forty to seventy thousand cubic inches, 
or from two to three hundred gallons ! This enormous pro- 
duct is all the more remarkable from the fact that the Mor 
(7i<e_y plantations are generally in arid gro-unds, and frequently 
on ledges of rocks scarcely covered with vegetable earth. 
The plant has firm and vigorous leaves, and is neither affected 
by drought, wet, hail, nor by the excessive cold which pre- 
vails in the higher Cordilleras of Mexico. It perishes after 
efflorescence, but an infinity of shoots then spring from the 
decaying roots. No known plant multiplies with greater 
facility. 

The fibre of the Maguey is coarser than that of the A. Si- 
silana, but nevertheless of great utility, and extensively 
used. The ancient Mexicans painted their hieroglyphical 
records and ritual calendars on paper made from the leaves 
of this plant, macerated in water, and the fibres deposited in 
layers like those of the Egyptian cyperus (papyrus) and the 
mulberry of the South Sea islands. And in modern times 
the fibres are used for a corresponding purpose. 

Indeed, the paper made from the Maguey is so much es- 
teemed for its toughness and durability, over that made in 
the United States and Europe, that in 1830 a law was enacted 
by the Mexican Congress, requiring that no other kind of 
paper should be used in recording the laws, or in the execu- 
tion of legal documents. 

3. Agave Americana. — This plant, which has been natural- 
ized in the south of Europe and Algeria, is often confounded 
with the Maguey or Agave Sisilana. Its flowering or central 
stem, when the plant is vigorous, rises to the height of 40 
feet or upwards, and throws out branches on every side, like 
those of a candelabrum, so as to form a kind of pyramid, each 
branch supporting a cluster of greenish red flowers. These 



S6 



TROPICAL FIBUE8. 



give })lace to bulbous seeds, which when planted spring up 
rapidly and luxuriantly. The original plant however dies. 
The time of flowering varies with localities and climate. An 
erroneous notion is that it flowers only once in a hundred 
years. Ilcncc the popular name of Cvnturij Plant. Plate IV. 
represents the plant in full flower. The fibres from its leaves 
closely resembles those from the Marjuey. It is a hardy plant, 
and often covers rocky, barren eminences, where every other 
kind of vegetation fiiils to take root.* / 

There are eight paper mills in Mexico, which manufacture 
from cotton and the ^J2Va. Their product, however, is not 
equal to the consumption. Mr. Brantz Mayer, in his work 
{Mexico as it }Yasand as it Is, p. 313), observes: "The best 
coarse wrapping or envelope paper I have ever seen, is made 
in Mexico, from the leaves of the Agave Americana. It has 
almost the toughness and tenacity of iron. ''^ 

4. Agave vivipara and Agave Virginica, are both interest- 
ing as being indigenous in the United States from Vir- 
ginia southward to Florida. The vivipara never grows to 
a large size, and as it produces no suckers from the root, it 
can only be propagated from its bulbous seeds, after flower- 
ing. William Bartram, the celebrated traveler-naturalist, 
saw this variety, in his botanical tour through Forida in 1731, 
near the Mosquito river. His words are : 

" I continued along the beach for a quarter of mile, and 
came up to a forest of the Agave vivipara. I term it a forest, 
because the scapes or flower-stems rose erect near 30 feet 
high, their tops branching in the form of a pyramidal tree, 
and those plants growing near each other, occupied a space 
of ground of several acres. "When their seeds are ripe, they 
vegetate and grow on the branches until the stem dies, when 

( 

• Mr. Stephens, in his " Incidents of Travel in Central America," describ- 
ing liis journey from Chiquimula to Copan in Honduras, speaks of ascending 
a high mountain : 

"Tlie ascent was toilsome, but the toi)\vas open, and so covered with that 
beautiful plant {Apave Americana,) tliat we called it the Mountain of Aloes. 
Some were just peeping out of the ground, others were 20 or 80 feet high, 
and some gigantic stalks were dead ; flowers which would have kindled rajv 
ture in the breast of beauty had bloomed and died on the desolate mountjiin, 
unseen except by the passing Indian." — Vol. i., p. 90. 



ENDOGENOUS PLiySTTS. 37 

the young plants fall to the ground, take root, and fix them- 
selves in the sand." 

Plate Y, represents the Agave Virginica, which resembles 
the vivlpara so closely as to be distinguished with difficulty. 
Its leaves are numerous, of paler color, and its stems are not 
so high, nor do they branch in the same manner. 

Both varieties, it is fair to presume, produce useful fibres ; 
but I am not aware that fibres have been extracted except 
from the Agave vivijjara, specimens of which, of admirable 
quality, were shown in the great Exhibition of 1851. 



II. — Bromelia or Pine-Apple Family. 

The plants of this family are all indigenous to the conti- 
nent and islands of America, and many of them yield fibres 
of excellent quality. One variety, that producing the delici- 
ous fruit known as the pine-apple, {Anauassa sativa) has 
been introduced into the East Indies, where its fibres have 
been extensively used in the manufacture of the delicate 
fabric called i^ina (pronounced pinija^^ as also for cordage, 
etc. The piua fabric, more delicate in texture than any other 
known of the vegetable kingdom, is woven from the untwist- 
ed fibres of the pine-apple leaf, after they have been reduced 
to the greatest fineness. In order to produce a continuous 
thread, the selected fibres are glued together at their ends, 
forming an unbroken line, by which means the even char- 
acter of the fabric is produced. In the great exhibition of 
1851, in London, beautiful pine-apple thread was exhibited 
from Java, Celebes, Singapore, Madras, and other parts of 
India. The fibres of the Bromelia syluestris, known in Mexico 
as isile or ixtle, and in Central America aspita or jnnuella, how- 
ever, are probably more valuable, in every sense, than those 
of anyother tropical plant, and it would seem may be pro- 
duced more readily than those of Agave Sisilaiia. 

1. Bromelia sylvestris^ or wild pineapple, the isile of Mex- 
ico, but known as pita and pinuella in Central America and 
Panama, and in the West Indies as Bromelia pinguin or 
penguin^ can hardly be said to rank second to the henne- 



88 



TROPICAL FIBRES. 



quitis in economic importance. It is widely diffused through- 
out tlic tro])ics, growing everywhere, in all varieties of .soil. 
It is exten.sively used for hedges, for which its long, straight 
and spiny leaves admirably adapt it, and may be cultivated 
with a minimum of labor and cost, and in unlimited quanti- 
ties. Plate VI. represents this plant, with its flowering stem 
and fruit yet undeveloped. It is closely allied to the pine- 
apple, but the fruit is different, the ovaries failing to com- 
bine in one mass, as in the ease of the pine-apple, the forma- 
tion of which they well illustrate. 

The leaves are five to eight feet long, from one and a half 
to three inches wide, thin, and lined with a fine, tough fibre, 
the pita, equal in strength and beauty, and in other respects 
better than that of the Jiennequin. It is altogether a supe- 
rior substitute for flax. 

This plant is self-propagating, and left to itself in an 
open field, will soon cover the ground. In Central America, 
but particularly in Nicaragua, it is so abundant in the 
forests as to be a serious obstruction to the passage of man 
or beast. Fig. 5, page 29, represents a leaf of this plant, 
showing the difference between it and that of the henne- 
quin. It is largely cultivated in the district of Coatza- 
coalcos in Mexico, where, according to a report made to the 
Mexican government, there were in 1830, not less than 1,221 
isiales or istk patches. In the same year, there reached the 
port of Vera Cruz, by the pass of San Juan alone, 943 bales 
of fibre, of 200 lbs. each, equal to 188,600 lbs. 

Major Barnard, U. S. A., in his report on the Isthmus of 
Tchuan tepee, speaks as follows of the Istle: "Among the 
spontaneous products of the Isthmus is the Bromelia jnta, 
or ixtle, which differs in some respects from the Agave 
Americana of Europe, the 2)ulque maguey of Mexico, and 
the Agave Sisilana of Yucatan. Of this prolific ])lant there 
are numerous varieties, all yielding fibres which vary in 
quality from the coarsest hemp to the finest flax. It is in- 
different to soil, climate, and season, and the simplicity of 
its cultivation, and the fiicility of extracting and preparing 
its products, renders it of universal use. From it is fabri- 
cated thread and cordage, mats, bagging, and clothing, and 



ENDOGENOUS PLANTS. 39 

the hammocks in which the natives are born, repose, and 
die. The fibres of the pita are sometimes employed in the 
manufacture of paper ; its juice is used as caustic for wounds, 
and its thorns serve the Indians for needles and pins. The 
place generally selected for its cultivation, is a thick forest, 
from which the small undergrowth is removed by cutting 
and burning. The roots of the old plants are then set out 
at a distance of from five to six feet apart, and at the end 
of a year the leaves are cut and ' rasped.' When the ixtle is 
young its fibres are fine and white, but as it increases in age, 
they become longer and coarser. In this manner it is easy 
to select the quality of fibre required. In a wild state its 
thorns are very numerous, but by cultivation they are dim- 
inished both in size and number, and in many instances 
there are none at all. Even loilh the imperfect instruments 
used in cleaning the leaves, four ami five pounds of fibre per 
day is only a fair average for the labor of a man.'''' — Isthmus 
of Tehuantepec, p. 185. 

In the year 1857 (Jan. 14), Chief Justice Temple, of Be- 
lize, or British Honduras, read a paper before the Royal 
Society of Arts of London, on the resources of that country, 
which, as is well known, forms part of Central America. 
Amongst other objects of interest, he exhibited a quantity 
of the fibre of the plant under notice, as well of the Agave 
Sisilana. Of the former, or Bromelia sylvestris, he said: 
" The plant called Bromelia p)ita, istle by the Mexicans, 
and silk-grass by the Creoles of British Honduras, grows 
spontaneously in the greatest abundance. The leaves are of 
a soft, dark green, from five to thirteen feet long, and from 
a inch and a half to four inches wide. Along the edge of 
the leaf, about six inches apart, are short, sharp, curved 
thorns. "When the plant is cultivated, these gradually dis- 
appear. The fibre which the leaf contains is unquestiona- 
bly of a very superior description, and I have no doubt ^ 
could be used in every species of textile fabric. I have 
been informed by leading manufacturers that this fibre is 
equal to the best China grass, superior to the New Zealand 
flax, and capable of being manufoctured into the finest fab- 
rics." — Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, Vol. V,, p. 125. 



40 TROPICAL FIBRK8. 

In the discussion wbicli took place among the leading 
members of the Society, on the paper of Judge Temple, Mr. 
P. L. Simmonds, editor of the JIark Lane Expreiin, said: 

"I have, to-day, seen some oftiie indigenous specimens of 
the ih ngu'in or hromella from Honduras, which have been 
operated upon by a new jiatented process of Messrs. Pye 
Bros, of Ipswich, and am astonished at the remarkable im- 
provement and high commercial value which have been 
given to the article. The main dijjknllij Otat has stood in the 
way of ulillzinrj many of these Jibres, and viakiny them cheap, 
and of universal use, has heen the want of cheap and efficient 
machinery for 2>f"*^pni'inf/ them, and getliwj rid of tiie fjunimy 
and other matters tuhich surround them, ivithoid injury to the 
fibres. Such machinery is a desideratum of the aye." 

Mr. Pyo remarked that, " On the authority of practical 
men, he could confidently assert that the fibre of the j^ita 
Iromelia, from its strength and qualit}', might be rendered 
fit, by the hackling process, for the finest fabrics." 

Mr. J. B. Sharp said that "lie could confirm all that 
had been said by those who preceded him. lie bad that 
morning submitted some of the fibres to a close micros- 
copical examination, and had ascertained that each fibre 
contained from 5 to 12 or more fine filaments, held together 
by gummy matter, capable of being dissolved by proper 
processes. Some of the specimens before them had been 
passed over the comb or hackles of a flax mill, and had 
been pronounced by the most experienced flax spinners 
of the country (England) to be greatl}- superior to Kus- 
sian flax, and approaching the best description of Belgian, 
in capability of application to the finest textile fabrics. 
* * A material point to be considered was the machinery 
to be employed in obtaining these fabrics. On this head ho 
would observe that the plantain, one of the most luxuriant 
plants in growth, could be easily prepared with one machine, 
while the silk-grass or ])enyuin, etc., required a machine es- 
sentially, dilferent in construction. * * The leaf of the 
silk-gra.ss consisted of two different structures; the upper 
side being of a soft or pulj)}' character, easy of removal ; and 
the under side of a harder or more ligneous character, and 



ENDOGENOUS PLANTS. 41 

more difficult to separate — these two external bodies holding 
the fibre between them. The preparation of the fibre, how- 
ever, was a question of mere mechanical arrangement. * * 
He had no hesitation in saying that the three British colonies 
of Jamaica, Honduras and Guiana were capable of fur- 
nishing fibres from the plants in question to the value of 
$15,000,000 per annum." 

There is another variety of this plant, the B. karatis, whicli 
is hardly to be distinguished from the B. penguin or sylves- 
tris. It is found chiefly in the dark woods, and has been 
supposed by some to be the true B. sylvestris, changed only 
by the conditions of its growth. It is probably equally 
valuable for its fibres. See Plate VII. 

III. — Bromelia ananas, or edible pine-apple, which also 
affords fine foliaceous fibres of practical utility, has leaves 
about three feet long by an inch and a half to two inches 
wide, strongly edged with spines. These may all be worked 
when the fruit is cut, the plant being perpetuated by shoots 
from its base. Left to itself, these shoots will gradually 
cover the entire ground. The shortness of its leaves, how- 
ever, render this plant inferior in value to its wild brother, 
the Bromelia sylvesiris or penguin. The plant, which is a 
native of America, has been introduced in the East Indies, 
where its fibre is extensively used in manufacturing the 
delicate fabric known to commerce as piria. See Plate VIII. 

III. — MusA OE Banana Family. 

The various members of this family rank only second to 
the Agaves and Bromelias in the quantity and value of their 
fibres. Several varieties are cultivated for food, yielding a 
delicious and nourishing fruit, and in such abundance that 
Humboldt estimates the product of a single acre as equal to 
the average product of 133 acres of wheat, and 44 acres of 
potatoes. An interesting, and for the purposes which we 
have in view, a most important fact, is that the tree or plant, 
whether plantain or banana, is almost universally cut down 
when the fruit is gathered. With proper machinery for ex- 
tracting the fibre, the many millions of plants thus left to 



43 TROPICAL FIBRES. 

rot, could be converted into articles of first utility for man- 
kind, such as cordage, cloth, paper, etc.* 

Manilla JFcmp. — The fibre known to commerce as Manilla 
Uemp is extracted from a variety of the Banana, the musa 
textilis. It is a round, silky-looking fibre, nearly white. It 
is admirably ada[ited for cordage, and from the finer fibres, 
obtained from the petioles of the leaves, are made many of 
the delicate and celebrated muslins of India. 

The stems of all the plants of this order or family are 
made up of the united petioles of the leaves. They con- 
tain such a remarkable abundance of spiral vessels that they 
can be pulled out by handfuls, and are sold for tinder. 
Each spiral vessel contains six or seven fibres, which when 
separated constitute the Manilla Hemp. 

The value of Manilla Ilemp, in the English market, is 
about $25 per ton more than the best Russian hemp, f 



• la the official report of tlie great Exliibition in London (1851) it is stated 
that the plantain j>roduces '' three kinds of fibre resembling hemp, hard silk, 
and cotton, capable of being worked into cordage, fustians, lawns, gauze, 
blonde-lace, and candle-wicks." 

f In the consular returns for 1854, published bj- order of the United States 
Government, (vol. iv., p. 2oO), under the head of "Manilla," it is said of the 
Manilla shipping. 

"The standing rifi^^ing is of European rope, and the running rigging of 
rope made from the fibres of the plantain tree, called in the United States 
Manilla hemp, and in this market Ahaca\ or from Marinexi, a filno identical 
I believe with tliat known in the United States as Sisal hemp, ilanilla cord- 
age is usually sold at an advance of J-t per picul on the cost of hemp, or 
from 7 to 9 cents per lb. The Maguey rope is much cheaper, but inferior, 
owing to the hemp being imperfectly cleaned. * * The hemp which is 
the principal product of these islands (Philippines), and is grown nowhere 
else, witli advantage, is in such favor in the United Stales that to this date 
the demand has in no jear being fully supplied. To tlii? article is due the 
increased commerce with the United States. * * Tiie jilantain tree from 
which the hemp is obtained, is cultivated with the greatest facility, hut the 
operation of separating and cleartiug the fibrex is very laborious. A machine 
has recently been invented by an American engineer in Manilla, which it is 
to be hoped may be usi-ful in saving labor and increasing the pmduction. 

"The export of Manilla hemp, to the United States and Great Britain for 
1852 was" 44,018,mOO lbs., or in value |;5, 350,000. To show the rapidity 
witli the demand for tliis product has increased, it is oidy necessary to men- 
tion that tlic total export of the Philippine islands for 1839-40 was only 
5,870,000 lbs." 



ENDOGENOUS PLANTS. 43 

Plate IX. exhibits the appearance and mode of growth of 
the Musa rosacea or red banana, and will serve to illustrate 
the entire class. The lamina, composing the stalk, are from 
10 to 14 feet long, by from 4 to 6 inches broad, and are used 
for many purposes, such as matting and wrapping, in their 
natural state, without any other preparation than pressing 
and drying. 

Among the articles sent from British Guiana to the Crystal 
Palace exhibition in New York, in 1853, were a large variety 
of the products of the plantain and banana, consisting as 
well of their prepared fruit, as of the fibres, and cloth, cor- 
dage, and paper made from it. I extract from a report on the 
exhibition, jDublished in Demerara, a number of interesting 
paragraphs on these plants and their products, all of which 
concede that proper machinery to extract the fibre, is alone 
requisite, in order to make it an article of prime commercial 
and industrial value. 

"Many indigenous (and this is true of all tropical Ameri- 
can countries, as well as of Guiana,) contain fibre which 
might be turned to profitable account, as a substitute for 
hemp. Cordage of every thickness, from the finest line to the 
stoutest cable has been manufactured from them, and found to 
endure the severest test to which it could be subjected. Paper 
has also been made from the fibre of the plantain stems which 
are now thrown aside to rot on the ground. One sort for 
writing, another quality resembling parchment, and a coarse 
strong article for wrapping goods, have been obtained in the 
very infancy of the manufacture, and there is every probabili- 
ty that superior paper of all descriptions, may be produced, 
as improvements in the process are effected. The plantain 
is of rapid growth, and exceedingly prolific, and demands 
little attention to its cultivation. Its fruit is the bread of the 
tropics," — {Introduction of Report^ p. iv.) 

Plantain fibres from stems six to eight months old, and 
also from the stems after bearing fruit, were exhibited by 
A. D. Yander Gon Netscher, with the following statement : 

" I have had an experience of ten years in the cultivation 
of from 400 to 480 acres of plantains. On every acre from 
700 to 800 stems are cut annually, either for the fruit, or 



44 TROPICAL FIBRES. 

after having been blown clown V)y high winds, disease or 
other reasons. If cultivated for fibre, I am of opinion tliat 
by cutting them down every eight months, from 1400 to 
1500 good stems could be had at every cutting, or 4,500 in 
two years. The average weight of the plantain tree is 80 
lbs., and after repeated trials I have found that it will yield 
2^ lbs. clean, and 1^ lbs. of discolored and broken fibre, fit 
only for coarse paper, per tree ; this however, by very im- 
perfect machinery. The keejnng up of a plantain estate 
costs about $30 per acre annually." {Report, p. 3.) 

Plantain stems dried, from Inver Island, Demcrara River, 
were exhibited by Daniel Blair, 

"The trees were passed through the iron rollers of a sugar 
mill and dried in the sun. The plantain is an annual, her- 
baceous tree, averaging about thirty inches in circumference 
and from 10 to 14 feet in height. It consists of about 90 
per cent, of water, containing salts and tannin in solution. 
All its solid parts are contained in the specimens, consisting 
of fibre and connecting cellular tissue. The yield in this 
fibre of thousands of acres is lost annually in this colony 
alone^ for want of a s^imjyle and inexpensive machine for 
separatiny it. Tlie tree must always he cut down for obtain- 
ing the fruit, and the stem containing thefhre is allowed to 
rot on the ground. Could an efficient and cheap machine he 
invented, the fibre would be almost entire profit to the 
planter. The banana yields less fibre than the plantain tree, 
and its fibre is generally tinted." {lb., p. 5.) 

" Eight or nine months after the sucker has been planted, 
the banana begins to form its clusters, and the fruit ma}^ be 
gathered in the tenth month. When the stalk is cut, the 
fruit of which lias ripened, a sprout is put forth from the 
root which again bears fruit in three months. Tiie whole 
labor that is required for cultivating a plantation of bananas 
or plantains, is to cut the stalks when the fruit is rijie, and 
break up the earth a little once or twice a year around the 
new shoots. A spot of little more than 1000 square feet 
will contain from 30 to 40 banana plants. {Library of En- 
tertaining Knowledge, p. 3fi8.) 

Although the stems of the ordinary plantain and banana 



ENDOGENOUS PLANTS. 45 

produce fibres in no perceptible degree different from those 
of the Musa textilis or ahaca of the Philippine Islands, yet 
the French government, many years ago, undertook the in- 
troduction of the latter into the Islands of Guadaloupc, and 
Martinique, where it was found to flourish as well as in its 
native soil, and where it has propagated itself to a large 
extent. {Anncdes Maritimes et Coloniales du France^ fol. 
vi.,2>- 86.) M. Perrouttel, Botanist of the French govern- 
ment in Guadaloupc, in the work just quoted, has given a 
very full account of the abaca of Manilla, and the mode of 
extracting its fibres, which, as equally applicable to the 
plantain and banana proper, I here translate. 

" The abaca of the Philippines differs essentially from all 
the varieties of banana known. Its stem, which rises from 
a tuft of shoots, has a height of from 15 to 20 feet, of a 
dark green color, and very smooth on its surface. Its leaves 
are of the same color, long, and straight, with strongly 
marked nerves both parallel and transverse. The fruit is 
small, triangular, resembling abortive bananas, and scattered 
here and there near the extremity of the fruit-stem. It is 
full of black seeds, almost round, similar to those of the 
gumbo. These seeds fructify rapidly after planting, and the 
young plants are strong and vigorous, attaining the dimen- 
sions already indicated within the short space of eight or 
nine months. The plant requires a rich and humid soil, 
and rejoices in thick forests, at the base of mountains, where 
it acquires, in a short time, an extraordinary development. 
I have never seen it in such perfection as on the humid, jet 
high grounds belonging to M. de Lacharriese (Guadaloupc), 
notwithstanding its entire abandonment to itself, in the 
midst of a jungle of other plants. Only two shoots were 
planted here, about seven years ago, yet now the whole valley 
is covered with them, so as to resemble a forest. This foct 
proves sufficiently that the plant is robust and easily culti- 
vated — indeed, that it can be propagated with a minimum 
of care, to the greatest needful extent. 

" No doubt however, its regular cultivation would be 
beneficial in many respects, especially if the plants were 
kept at a reasonable distance apart, so as to permit their full 



46 TROPICAL FIBRES. 

development. In the Philippines, the stems are cut .down 
as near the ground as possible, at the moment they evince 
signs of flowering, that is to say about eight months after 
planting. The outer sheath or envelope is then stripped oflf, 
leaving the petioles that compose tbe stem proper. The 
stem is next split into two and afterwards into four parts, 
atler which the petioles or layers are stripped off, working 
from the exterior. Those composing the very interior or 
heart of the stem are thrown aside, as being destitute of 
fibres of sufficient strength for economic purposes. The 
reserved filaments or slips are now pounded with clubs of 
hard wood, first on one side and then on the other, until the 
transversal and cellular tissues, and porous and gummy 
matters are expelled. After this the fibres are passed fre- 
quently through a coarse hackle, and washed many times in 
clear, running water, until perfectly free from all extraneous 
matters. They are then hung over ropes or poles to dry in 
the shade. 

"As the fibres are not all of the same size, those being fin- 
est which come from the slips nearest the heart of the stem, 
they are carefully separated by hand ; the coarsest being laid 
aside for cables, ropes, cords, etc., according to their relative 
fineness, while the finest are reserved for the more delicate 
tissues. 

" In sending them to Europe for sale, the fibres are packed 
in bales of greater or less size. Those which are of fifteen 
feet in length or upwards are folded back on themselves three 
or four times, according to the length of the cases contain- 
ing them ; those of less length arc folded two or three times; 
after which the cases are hermetically closed, in order to pro- 
tect their contents from humidity on board ship. 

" This is the manner in which the abaca of the Philip- 
pines is prepared, and it only remains to indicate the purposes 
for which it may be used in France. 

"As already said, the coarser fibres are used to make cables, 
•whioh have great solidity and durability. Ropes of great 
tenacity arc also mndc from them, which arc used in many 
ways, but particularly in rigging coasting vessels. Of tlie 
finer sort, tissues or muslins are made of great beauty, which 



ENDOGENOUS PLANTS. 47 

are very dear, even in Manilla. I had a number of sliirts 
made from this muslin, which lasted me a very long time, 
and were cool and agreeable in the use. But it is especially 
in France that tissues of this material are best made and of 
greatest beauty. They receive all colors with equal perfec- 
tion. Vails, crapes, neckerchiefs, robes, and women's hats, 
all of great beauty and high cost, as well as of wonderful 
durability, are among the manufactures from the aiaca fibres. 
Besides these are made various articles of men's wear, such 
as shirts, vests, pantaloons, etc. 

"Ever since this precious fibre became known in France, 
our vessels have frequented Manilla, returning freighted in 
part with the article. The quantity imported, however, falls 
far short of the demands of the manufacturers, and its pro- 
duction certainly deserves the attention of all our southern 
colonies. Its cultivation, as we have seen, is easy, and, as 
regards cost, next to nothing, and there is no reason why it 
should not become an important article of commerce through- 
out tropical America." 

M. Jules Itier, special agent connected with a late French 
Mission to China, made a report to his government on the 
productions and resources of that empire, which is published 
in Vol. VIII. of the work already quoted. He states that 
the plantain shoots are set, in furrows six inches deep, and 
fourteen feet apart. The fibres are separated as above de- 
scribed, each plant yielding 42 ounces. An expert laborer 
can extract fifty pounds per daj. M. Itier adds : 

" The alaca cloth is almost transparent, somewhat rigid, 
light, and cool to the touch, and is used by the Togals for 
napkins, handkerchiefs, shirts, etc., of various colors. The 
fibres are not spun or twisted, but the threads are used in 
their natural state, being only tied together at their ends. 
They are next wound into balls, soaked for a day in hot 
water, dried in the sun, and are then ready to be woven." 

The necessity for the introduction of some new, cheap, 
and abundant fibre as a substitute for cotton and linen, in 
the manufacture of paper, is universally recognized. Various 
attempts have been made to supply it from various mate- 
rials common to northern latitudes, but without success. 



48 



TEOPICAL FIBRES. 



The bark of tlic willow, linden, and even the common nettle, 
have all been called in requisition, and paper of a fair quality 
obtained from them, but not of sufficient excellence or in 
sufficient quantity to supply any considerable part of exist- 
ing demands. The subject was brought up and very fully 
investigated in response to a prize of So, 000 offered on 
behalf of the " London Times," by Messrs. Smith & Son, 
eminent newspaper dealers of London, in 1854, for " a cheap 
substitute for the cotton and linen material now used by 
paper makers," subject to the conditions of being " practi- 
cally unlimited in quantity, and in cost ten per cent, lower 
than the materials now used." Paper made from a great 
variety of substances was offered in competition for the 
prize, but none answered all the conditions accompanying 
the offer. Paper from the fibre of the plantain came nearest 
meeting the requirements, it being admitted that the impor- 
tant condition of quantity of fibre for its manufacture could 
be met, jii'ov'ded i^roper macliinery could he devised for its eco- 
nomic extraction. The quality of the paper as regards strength 
and fineness proved to be all that was required, and if pre- 
pared with skill, it was believed that in color and in every 
other respect it would prove equal if not superior to the 
kinds of paper now in use. 

V. — The Palji Family. 

There are a number of varieties of this large and useful 
class of trees which produce valuable fibres, and which only 
require proper machinery to contribute largely to commercial 
and manufacturing purposes. 

1. ihe Gomrauli &igioirc^ or Ejoojxhre^ from the variety of 
palm known to science as Arenga saccluiri/era, is produced 
b}' the splitting or decay of the leaf-stalks. To the natives 
of the tropics, these naturally prepared fibres are invaluable, 
supplying them with materials for canvass, cordage, and a 
variety of economic purposes. It is best known as a pro- 
duct of the East Indies, but a similar article is also found 
under the tropics in America, where it is produced from a 
variety of palm known to science as the AUalea funifera. 



ENDOGENOUS PLANTS. 49 

The tree producing the gommuti fibre, rises from twenty to 
thirty feet in height, and has a dense crown of leaves. {Plate 
X.) The petioles are very stout, and it is at the base of 
these, completely embracing the trunk of the tree, where the 
horse-hair like material which cooperates to render this palm 
so valuable, is found. Cheaper, more durable, and stronger 
than co/r, it has the additional advantage of resisting mois- 
ture, for which reason it is highly valued for ropes, espe- 
cially cables, from their not being liable to injury when 
stowed away below, wet with salt water. Underneath this 
naturally produced fibre, the Gommuti palm produces a soft, 
gossamer-like substance, called horu, used in place of oakum 
for caulking, etc. 

To the natives of the East Indies and the Philippine 
Islands, this tree is invaluable. Its juice when reduced, 
produces sugar, and when fermented an intoxicating liquor. 
From 150 to 200 lbs. of sago may also be obtained from a 
single tree, which also furnishes from four to seven pounds 
of fibre. 

2. Piassava, Monkey grass^ or Para grass, and called by 
the natives chiquichujui, is produced from a variety of palm 
{Attalea funifera) which abounds on the Amazon river and 
its tributaries, in very much the same manner as the Oom- 
muii fibre from the Arenga palm. The tree is one of the 
most elegant of its family. Its stem rises from twenty to 
thirty feet, straight as an arrow. From the top of this 
springs a tuft of pinnated fronds or leaves, often nearly 
twent}^ feet in length. Before the decay of the petioles, 
the fibres become detached at the margins of their bases 
in large quantities, hanging down ten or twelve feet 
in tufts, whence comes the name funifera, rope-bearing. 
Nearly all the cordage used on the Amazon, is made from 
the 2^ic^sava fibre, which is remarkably round, not vary 
pliable, and often about the thickness of the small green 
rush. Eight hundred tons were exported from Para in 
1851, to England, where it is used for making brushes and 
brooms. The brushes of the street-sweeping machines of 
London are made from this fibre. 

3. Coir or Cocoa-nut Fibre, manufactured from the husk or- 

4 



50 TROPICAL FIBRES. 

outer covering of the common Cocoa-nut, is nearly as strong 
as hemp, rnul is useil in the East for cordage. The fibre is 
prepared by soaking the husks in water for a long ])eriod of 
time, not un frequently for six months, and until they become 
soft. They are*tlien dried, and beaten until the woody part 
falls out like saw-dust, leaving only the fibres. The cordage 
made from Coir is second to that from no other materiaJ. 
The amount of Coir rope imported into Great Britain from 
the East Indies, for the year 1859, was 8,23S,2C0 lbs., valued 
at $392,265. 

4. The Palmeilo {Chamaerops hystrb^ grows throughout 
Central America and the West Indies, both in high roo^y 
ground, and on low, moist lands near the sea, but appears to 
thrive best in the former. It shoots by a simple stalk, and has 
maximum height of ten to fourteen feet. It is always furnish- 
ed with leaves of the form of a fan, sustained by slender com- 
pressed foot-stalks. These are very tough and serve when split 
and parted to make baskets, bow-strings, ropes, and a thousand 
other objects requiring strength and toughness. No doubt 
the proper machinery would enable tropical residents to pro- 
duce the fibre of this palm for our markets, in which its great 
strength and durability could not fiiil to secure for it a ready 
sale, and extensive use. Specimens sent to the Great Lon- 
don Exhibition of 1851, from the Bahamas, received " hon- 
orable mention." 

A variety of this palm {Chamaerops humilis) is found in 
Western Asia, Northern Africa, and Southern Europe. The 
Arabs use its fibres mixed with Camel hair for the cloth of 
their tents, as also for cordage. The fibre is extensively used 
in France, under the name of "African hair," in the manu- 
facture of carpets. It is used also for sails, and for this 
purpose it is regarded as superior to Spanish broom. It has 
latyly been discovered that the fibres divested of glutinous 
matter, are extremely divisible, and may be made as fine as 
flax, and into what is called flax cotton. Since 1854:, tiiey 
have been successfully made into sail-cloth, carpets, thread, 
and paper. 

5. Corosol., Coyol, or Corojo Palm abounds in dry, arid, rocky 
ground throughout tropicaF America, but particularly in Cen- 



ENDOGENOUS PLANTS. 51 

tral America and tbe interior of Cuba. It grows to the height 
of twenty feet, and tbe trunk is covered from bottom to top, 
as are also its leaves, with long, narrow, sharp, and hard 
spines. It produces a large cluster of nuts with a hard shell, 
of the size of grape-shot, from the kernel of which is extracted 
an oil indistinguishable from that of the Cocoa-nut. The 
woody exterior of the trunk covers a pulpy heart, saturated 
with juice of a fresh, agreeable flavor, which may be obtained 
by incision, called vino de coyol. When fermented, it becomes 
intoxicating like the pulque of the maguey. In times of 
great drought, when vegetation is destroyed, this pulpous 
heart is often fed to cattle. The leaves of the coyol are lined 
with a long and excellent fibre, called in Cuba Pita de corojo^ 
from which ropes, cords, etc., are- manufactured. The fibres 
are equal to those of the hennequtn, from which they can 
hardly be distinguished. 

6. 'I'he Gahoon Palm of the IStUgiish, Coroso gallinazo, of the 
Spaniards, and the attaba cohune of botanists, is one of the 
most luxuriant and prolific, as well as one of the most 
beautiful of the palms. It lines the coasts and water- 
courses of Central America, and sometimes occurs in vast 
parks, completely covering the ground with its arching 
leaves, under which the traveller may pass perfectly protect- 
ed from the rays of the sun. Its trunk rises to the height of 
from thirty to forty feet, and its leaves are often from twenty- 
five to thirty feet in length. Their stems are lined with fibres, 
which no doubt could be extracted of the whole length of 
the leaf, by the use of proper machinery. I am not aware 
that it has ever been used except by the Indians ; but if 
really available for manufacturers, the accessibility of the 
palms producing it, and their great abundance would make 
its extraction easy and profitable. This tree produces a nut 
similar to that of the coyol palm^ which grows in clusters, 
a single tree bearing from 500 to 800. The kernel jnelds 
an excellent oil, e(|ual if not superior to that of the cocoa 
palm. 

The Ticu Palm of the marshy grounds of the Orinoco, and 
the lia^ {Mauriiia flexuosa or Morricfie Palm) of Brazil, fur- 
nish abundant and excellent fibres, as well as food, drink, 



52 TKOriCAL FIBRES. 

building materials, and domestic utensils. Scnhor Baena, in 
his " Chorographical Essay on the Province of Para" in Bra- 
zil, says: "l^icrc are known twenty-three different palm- 
trees, each yielding fruit, /ire5, cordage, oil, and even spirits." 

In India, the palms producing fibres are also numerous. 
The gehang palm {Coryplia gdaitga) employs thousands of 
boys and girls in Java in weaving baskets and bags. Shirts, 
fishing-nets, etc., are made from its fibres, and ropes from its 
twisted leaf-stalks. It is one of the most useful of the 
Indian varieties of the palm. The Caryoia urens, which 
attains a height of forty feet and often grows to be a foot in 
diameter, has leaves from eighteen to twenty feet long, from 
which fibres of great strength are extracted. These are used 
for brushes, brooms, ropes, etc. The juice of the tree when 
reduced produces sugar. The fibre is known as Klttul fibre. 

The leaves of the Borassus fiahelliformis {Plate XI.), yield 
fibres, known as Palmyra fibre, as do also those of the Brazil- 
ian Carnuba palm, Corypha ccrifera. 

Fibrous materials are also obtained from the Sagus Jilaris, 
a Malay palm, and in Afghanistan ropes and cords are made 
from the fibred of the Maizurrye Palm. 

VI.— The Pandanus or Screw-Pine Family. 

Plants of this order are extremely abundant on the coral 
islands of the South Pacific and the Indian Archipelago, and 
also on the Isle of France. In America they arc rare. In 
India they are extensively used for hedges. The Pandams 
grows naturally on arid, sandy, or rocky soils, and from the 
upper part of the stems shoots out numerous atrial roots, 
which burying themselves in the soil, serve as stays or braces 
to prevent the plant from being uprooted by the wind. The 
leaves of all these species are fibrous, and in the South Pa- 
cific furnish almost the only material for clothing, mats, cord- 
age, bagging, etc. The fibres are white, smooth and lus- 
trous. All the species are easily propagated, and their natu- 
ral hiihitat appears to be those sterile, arid districts of the 
tropics which arc unfit for anv other useful vegetation. See 
Plate XII. 



CHAPTEE V. 

EXOGENOUS PLANTS.* 

Of the exogenous plants producing fibres, the Urtica or 
Nettle, the Malva or Mallow, and the Lilia or Lime Tree 
families are most important. Some varieties of the Legu- 
minosae and Asclepia or Milkwood families also produce 
fibres of good quality. 

The Urtica or Nettle Family. 

" This family, in all its subdivisions, produces plants 
abounding in excellent fibre. One division, the Hemp sub- 

* Dr. Scbaeffei" has made some judicious observations on the extraction of 
fibres from this grand class of plants, and also on the practical cultivation of 
the plants themselves, which are worthy of a place in this connection : 

" Many plants of this great division of the vegetable kingdom are herbaceous — 
that is, grow with but little strength to the stem for one year, and then die down 
to the ground, or altogether. Even perennial plants of warmer climates may, 
in the milder regions of the temperate zones, become annuals. In the case of 
true annuals, there is no need for any great hardening of the woody tissues of 
the stem, as the sole end to be attained is a sufficient support for the plant until 
it flowers and ^q seed ripens. Herbaceous stems, which die down to the ground 
each year, are evidently designed for a similar, restricted end. In the case of 
perennials, which, in other climates might become, at length, woody shrubs, a 
single year's growth is not enough to allow of much induration of the wood cells ; 
and heuce they approach nearly to the condition of true annuals, although the ten- 
dency to produce firm wood is constantly shown. If, under either of these three 
heads, a plant is found which furnishes a long aud useful bast, a common and well- 
known mode of treatment can be economically employed for the separation of the 
libre. The plant is exposed to the action of the air and moisture, with more or 
less of fermentation, until the diHerent tissues become separated, and even until 
the different cells are loosened in their adhesion, by which the harder and shorter 
woody fibres are broken, and in part removed, while the pliability of the bast 
allows it to pass through the treatment without injury. At the same time, the 
short aud more tender cells are also removed, the latter stages of the process diifer- 
ingfor different plants, all contributing to the complete separation of the remains 
of the adherent and useless types. 

" Two things, then, must concur to make a useful fibrous plant, for not only must 
the bast be long, pliant, and in bundles of the proper size, but the wood which is 



64 TROPICAL FIBRES. 

Aiinilj, contains not only the well-known bemp itself, but 
the hop, which although not cultivated for its fibre, has been 
used in paper making. The Bread-fruit, or Mulberry sub- 
family, includes not only the dilferent species of mulberry, 
but also the common paper mulberry, wliiel), although not a 
native of the United vStates, grows readily every where. 
All of the mulberries are fibrous plants ; but the paper mul- 
berry is most useful. In the Pacific i.<lands it furnishes the 
paper-like cloth known as Uippa. The tough papers of Japan 
and the delicate papers of China are also made from it. For 
fibrous purposes the plant should be cultivated so its to give 
long and slender shoots, after the manner of the osier or 
basket willow. 

"The most remarkable and probably the most valuable 
plant of the nettle family proper is that which produces the 
far-famed China-grass, described below. We have in the 
United States an indigenous species of the same genus to 

to be rejected must be brittle, with short cells, not ranch hardened or sot strongly 
adhering together. Flax and hemp are, in our own country, the best specimens 
of these favorable conditions, but we have other plants nearly, if not quite as 
well adapted to the manufacture of useful fibre ; and other countries show 
that nature has not been stinted in her supply of materials capable of meet- 
ing one of the first wants of mankind. 

" If we have been successful in communicating a clear idea of these conditions, 
the ready conclusion must be that dilferences in degree, even in the same plant, 
under varying circumstances, must fre<iuently occur ; the wood may become 
harder and greater in amount, the bast weaker and less in quantity, and the 
necessary inference might be drawn that judgment and skill in the culture of the 
plants would favorably modify these conditions. Experience, in advance of any- 
thing like an accurate knowledge of plant structure, has shown that this is true, 
at least for our common fibrous crops. Single stalks of hemp or other fibrous 
jilaiits allowed to grow at a distance from each other, or from other plants, would 
furnish but sorry specimens of fibre, if, when collected, they were managed as 
the results of an ordinary crop. A single plant invariably shows a hard woody 
stem, and a coarse fibre in the bark. But when a number of i)lants are grown in 
a small space, every one knows that they grow longer, and are more slender than 
when left to themselves. In this way the strength of the wood is much dimin- 
ished, and the fibre of the bark, if less abundant, is finer, and possiblv longer. 
If the i)lant has a tendency to branch, this is prevented, for the neat preparation 
of fibre from a branching stem is no easy matter. 

"The close cultivation of cotton, okra, and other plants, which we are accus- 
tomed" to see separated from each other, would probably show a fibre in the bark 
far more capable of treatment by the ordinary processes than would be suspected 
by most persons. A knowledge of correct princii)le8 is here of the greuiesi ad- 
vantage, when new materials are concerned. The influence of the soils and the 
details of the treatmeul of the crop are beyond the bounds of this article." 



EXOGENOUS PLANTS. 55 

which the Clima-grass belongs, but it seems never to have 
been properly examined. Of our species of true nettle, one, 
which is an introduced plant, has been employed in Europe 
for fibres. In the Western States, before the cultivation of 
the soil for anything except articles of food had been com- 
menced, nettles of spontaneous growth were used as a substi- 
tute for flax, and we have often seen persons who remember 
the time when shirts were made from nettles. We cannot 
learn whether attempts have been made to cultivate these 
plants."* 

China-grass or grass-linen, sometimes called Caloee or 
Rhea hemjp^ is obtained from the snowy nettle, the Urtica or 
JBwhmcria oiivea, a plant abundant in China and India, and 
which, it has been proved by experiment, can be cultivated 
without difficulty in the United States. It was described 
early in this century, by Dr. Eoxburgh, under the name 
of Urtica tenacissima. It derives its specific name from the 
white color of the under side of its leaves. Although for 
many years gradually increasing in commercial importance, 
it was not until the London Exhibition of 1851, that the 
fibre of this plant obtained the notice of the public generally. 
It was then exhibited in every condition, from the crude 
article to the woven fabric, showing a fibre of such beauty 
and strength, that three prize medals were awarded to dif- 
ferent persons for specimens in the prepared state. Of the 
value of the fibre, no better evidence can be given than 
that of Dr. Eoyle, who states that, as imported into England, 
it has sold at from $300 to $100, and even $600 a ton. In 
respect of strength, it has been proved by numerous experi- 
ments that it sustains a weight alwaj^s much greater and 
sometimes nearly double that of the best Eussian hemp. 
The cloth made from the fibre, known as grass-cloth, is not 
unlike silk in appearance, and has a softness and strength 
distinct from that of the fabric of any other fibre. 

The plant seems to be easy of cultivation, and three crops 
a year may be taken at intervals of about two months, the 
second growth yielding the finest fibre. The treatment of 

* Dr. Sclifeffer, Report of Patent OflBce, 1859, Agricultural, p. 387, 



56 TKOPICAL FIBRES. 

the crop varies, but in general resembles that of hemp, ex- 
ccj)t that the fibres are peeled from the stalks by hand, and 
then exposed to the dew by night and the sun by day, 
avoiding rain. In other cases they are soaked in lime-water, 
or boiled in a slightly alkaline solution ; sometimes again 
the fibre is spun and even woven before it is bleached. 
The plant is now cultivated largely in various parts of In- 
dia, and bids fair to become a most important article of 
commerce. Archer, in his " Popular Economic Botany," 
observes of it: " At present our mode of extracting the 
fibre is not sufTiciently perfect, but we are making rapid 
improvements, and may hope that grass-linen, equal in cpiality 
to that of China will ere long be as cheap and plentiful as 
that made from flax." 

In the London Exhibition of 1851 were exhibited fibres 
from the Neilgherry Nettle {Urtica heteropTiylld)^ as also 
from the TJ. caimablna^ which furnishes fibres fit for cordage, 
and the Bcdliraeria pwja which gives the PooaU or Puya 
fiax of Nepaul and Sikkim. 

There is a variety of this plant ( Urtica haccifera) indi- 
genous to Cuba, where it is known as Chichicaste. It is 
chiefly found in the Western departments of the island, grow- 
ing in rich soils. The stem rises to the height of from nine 
to ten feet, and is about two inches in thickness, covered with 
prickles. Its leaves are green on their upper surface, but 
paler beneath, with needle-like spines marking their veins, 
rendering contact with the plant most distressing. Its bark 
yields a strong fibre, which is used locally for cordage. 

The Ficus indica, called Jaguey in Cuba, and Mata-palo 
(Kill-tree) in Central America, sometimes primarily parasitic, 
often attaining gigantic size, sending down trunk after trunk 
to the ground like the banyan tree of India, and always 
vigorous, produces a strong bark, from which a tough cord- 
age of good quality and but little affected by the weather, 
is often manufactured. The measuring cords of the Spanish 
surveyors are generally made from the fibres of the jaguey. 



EXOGENOUS PLAjsrrs. 57 



II. — The Malva, or Mallow Family. 

The plants of this family are known throughout the 
world for their excellent fibres. They are not only yery 
numerous, but differ very widely in appearance. Some are 
herbaceous, while others are arborescent. Both varieties 
produce useful fibres. 

1. l^he Mohoe, or Mohaut tree, {Hibiscus ca-horeous of See- 
man,) is abundant in many parts of the tropics near the sea, 
and for considerable distances up the rivers. It grows to 
the height of from sixteen to eighteen feet, and throws out 
large flowers of a yellow or saffron color. Its bark is tough, 
not much, if at all inferior to hemp for many purposes ; the 
fibre is naturally white, and of a soft, filamentous texture, 
and apparently admirably adapted for the manufacture of 
paper. It is now used locally for making ropes, which are 
in no way inferior to those of hemp in strength and dura- 
bility. In Central America, the trunk of this tree, which is 
nearly as light as cork, is used in making rafts for floating 
logwood, etc., down to the sea. 

2. The Hibiscus iiliaceus, or the Majagua of Cuba and 
Central America, also produces a valuable fibre much used 
for ropes. It is little affected by moisture, and lience is 
chosen by surveyors for measuring lines, etc. It is found 
usually near water-courses and the sea-side, and is conse- 
quently sometimes called Majagua de i:)laija. This plant is 
diffused over the tropical and sub-tropical regions of both 
continents. 

Sir J. E. Smith describes this as " One of the most com- 
mon trees in every part of the East Indies, thriving in all 
sorts of situations and soils, and cultivated for the sake of 
its shade, even more than for the beauty of its flowers, in 
towns and villages and by the road-side. A coarse cordage 
is made from the bark ; the wood is white and light, useful 
for small cabinet work, and the mucilage of the whole plant 
is applied to medicinal purposes." 

3. The Sunn, or jSunnee hemp of India. There seems to 
be two kinds of fibres produced in India under this name ; 



58 TROPICAL FIBRES. 

one from the Ilihiscus cannahinus of the 3falvacece, and knpwn 
to commerce as Brown Indian hemp, Amhari, Pahingeo, etc., 
and the otlicr from the Crotalaria jimcea, of the natural 
order of Lffjnminosae, and called Shumim, Taag, Goni, etc. 
The Ilibisciis cannahimis is not confined to India, but is 
equally found in Brazil and tropical America. In Cuba it 
is called Canamo (k Senerjal, or Caflamazo, and the cloth made 
from it coleta. 

4. The Hibiscus esculentus is found in Cuba, where it is called 
Quimhomho or Molondron. It grows freely in all kinds of 
soil, and ])roduces a fibre applicable to the same uses with 
the flax of Europe. It is known in the United States as 
okra, and it is believed if the plants were grown closely 
together, the bark could be usefully treated for its fibres. 

Of the malvaceous plants of the United States, Dr. Schaef- 
fer observes : " A great many of these in the southwest are 
popularly unknown, but a trial of their capacities will be a 
great i)ublic service. Our great staple, the common cotton, 
is obtained from the wool on the seed, and is therefore not a 
bark fibre ; but as the cotton is a malvaceous plant, its bark 
might be supposed to be a good fibre. This has been veri- 
fied, as sliown in the Patent Office Eeport for 185-i. But 
the cotton in other regions grows to be a tree, and if we allow 
it to produce seeds abundantly, as it must do, to afford an 
abundant crop of the wool which clothes the seeds, the stem 
will, as a matter of course, become hard and woody. No 
one can imagine that there would be profit in cultivating the 
cotton for the fibre of the bark, at the sacrifice of the more 
manageable and valuable product attached to its fruit. But 
the ohra, which is only raised for its esculent, immaturewseed- 
vessels, seems much better adapted to profitable employ- 
ment in this direction. The fineness and abundance, as 
well as the strength of the fibre, are such as to render ex- 
periments with this plant under close cultivation highly 
desirable. From specimens in our own collection, it would 
seem* probable that the quantity of fibre on a single plant 
might, under favorable circumstances, be sufficient to pay 
for the i)rocessof stripping it by hand. — {Puknl Ojjice Report, 
1859. Agricidlural, p. 387.) 



EXOGENOUS PLANTS. 59 



III. — TiLiA, OR Lime Tree Family. 

The principal varieties of this family are found within 
the tropics, forming weed-like plants, shrubs, or trees, with 
handsome, usually white or pink flowers. A small number 
are peculiar to the northern parts of both hemispheres, 
where they form timber trees. Among these are our lime 
or linden (vulgarly, bass or basi-wood) trees. 

1. The inner bark of the linden {Tilia Euroj^ea) is tough 
and fibrous, and from it are manufactured Prussian mats. 

2. Jute^ or Jute hemj), is produced from the bark of a 
member of this order, the Corchoriis ca2Jsvl.ans^ which is culti- 
vated to an immense extent in India, particularly in Ben- 
gal. It is also found in Brazil, whence small quantities are 
exported. It is an annual plant, growing from twelve to 
fourteen feet in height. The fibre, which has of late years 
become so generally used that it rivals flax and hemp as a 
commercial product, is usually about eight feet long, fine,, 
and of a remarkably satiny lustre. It will not stand wet 
well, and hence is not adapted for cordage or canvass that 
requires to be exposed to the weather. In India it is chiefly 
used in making coarse canvass, called gunny, of which bags 
and bales are made for packing raw produce. In England 
it is often mixed with hemp for cordage ; and is even mixed 
with silk in the manufacture of cheap satins, in which it 
almost defies detection. Its principal use is in making 
coarse cloth for bagging, and in making the foundations of 
cheap carpets, mats, etc. The amount of Jute heinjp im- 
ported into England from the British East Indies, for the 
year 1855, was 520,964 cwts., valued at $2,159,830. The 
amount imported into the United States for 1860, at the 
custom-house valuation, was upwards of $2,000,000. 

Besides direct importations, a large quantity of gunny 
cloth is sent from the East Indies in the form of envelopes, 
for other materials, such as nitre, coffee, etc. Owing to the 
great cheapness of the gunny, the bags are rarely used more 
than once before they fall into the hands of the rag-mer- 
chants and paper-makers. In this condition they constitute 



GO TROPICAL FIBRES. 

the cheapest paper-stock to be found in the market. .The 
demand for it, however, has not been extensive, even at low 
prices, as it is impossible to bleach the fibres sufliciently to 
render them serviceable for the manufacture of white paper. 
This is owing to the fact that the bark of the tree pro- 
ducing the gunny, contains a large quantity of humic and 
cremic acids, together with some mineral bases, and some 
tannin. These substances rapidly neutralize and destroy 
almost any bleaching agent which can be applied. The use 
of gunny is, therefore, wholly restricted to the manufacture 
of brown wrapping and envelope papers. 

3. The best and whitest rope used in the Isthmus of Panama 
and many parts of South and Central America is made from 
the fibre of a member of this family, the AiJeiha Tlhorhon or 
Corteza of the natives. In Cuba there are a number of plants 
and trees of this family known under the name of Ouisasos. 
The Guisaso de cahaUo {Triumpheta semitriloha) produces a 
good fibre used for cloth, ropes, etc. Other varieties are 
said to equal it in this respect, but the best fibre is obtained 
from the Ouisaso del cochino {Triumpheta lajjpula). 



IV. — Yucca, Liliacea, or Lily Family. 

This is a large and useful family of plants. Some are 
showy garden flowers, such as tulips, lilies, tuberoses, etc., 
while others produce medicines, amoi.g which the aloe is 
conspicuous. Others still produce fibres of good quality, 
and to these we confine ourselves. Five varieties of these, 
the Yucca, angitstefoHa, Y. gloriosa, Y. aloifolia, Y. recur- 
vifolia, and Y. Jilamentosa^ are all native in the United 
States, abounding in the regions bordering on Mexico, in 
"Western Texas, New Mexico, etc. The Y. aloifolia (repre- 
sented in Plate XIII., in flower), and the Y. (jloriosa (repre- 
sented in Plate XIV., before flowering), are both frequently 
called Adam's needles, Spanish bayonet, Petre, Dwarf Pal- 
metto, etc. The Y. Jilat/ientosa, (represented in I*laie XV., 
before flowering,) is commonly known as Bears' grass, 
Silk-grass, Eve's thread, Everlasting, etc. They all flour- 



EXOGENOUS PLANTS. 



61 



ish in the poorest soils, and might be propagated in almost 
all parts of the United States. Nutall, in his catalogue of 
North American plants, mentions the Y. filameniosa, and 
angusiifolia as found on the banks of the river Missouri 
from the confluence of the river Platte to the mountains. 
The Y. gloriosa^ he adds, is called Petre by the Mexican 
Spaniards, "and is used for cordage, ropes, etc., as well as for 
packing cloth, and is extremely durable." Of the Y. fila- 
mentosa^ Elliot, in his Botany of South Carolina, says, '* It 
appears to possess the strongest fibres of any vegetable what- 
ever, and if it can be raised with facility, will furnish a valu- 
able article of domestic economy." 

That all these varieties can be made available by the new 
machinery referred to in this memoir, may justly be inferred 
from the uses to which the kindred plant, the Phormium 
ienax, which yields what is known to commerce as JV^ew 
Zealand flax^ is applied. Plate XVI. represents this plant in 
flower. It can scarcely be distinguished from the yuccas of 
our own country, by the uneducated eye. The fibre is now 
extracted from the long leaves by drying, maceration, and 
hackling. The coarser qualities make good ropes, and very 
fine linen is manufactured from selected fibres.* Specimens 
of hemp equal to that called New Zealand, was sent to the 
London Exhibition from the Behamas, manufactured from 
the Yucca serrulata. 

Morgahee^ African Hemp, or Bow-string Hemp fibres^ 
were exhibited in the London Exhibition of 1851. They 
are prepared by hand from the leaves of a plant of this or- 
der, the Sanseviera zylanica^ which is found over the tropics 
of India and Asia. 



*In the report of the great Exhibition in London of 1851, it is stated that 
the mode adopted for extracting the New Zealand hemp is as follows : " The 
plants are soaked for two daj-s in water, then twisted into hanks, and beaten 
with a mallet, the extraneous matter being washed out, leaving the fibre." 
The plant producing this hemp has been acclimated in the South of France, 
and in Algeria. It has also been introduced into South Carolina, and other 
Southern States, where it flourishes and propagates itself in a wild state. 



62 



TROPICAL FIBRES. 



V. — Leguminosae. 



The plants of this order are almost innumerable. De 
Candolle gave 2,560 species as known in his day, of which 
upwards of 1,000 were peculiar to tropical America, and 
452 to the East Indies, where a number of varieties are 
valued for their fibres. I am not aware that any of them 
have been used for the production of fibres on this conti- 
nent, except perhaps in Brazil. 

1. Sun, Shunum, Taag, Jaiuipuiii^ or Bengal hemp, to be 
distinguished from the Sunn, or Sunnce hemp of India, (see 
Malva family,) is the fibre of the CroUdaria juncea, and is 
a valuable substitute for Russian hemp. It is coarser in 
Quality than the Jute hemp, hwi better capable of with- 
standing wet. The natives of India manufacture it into all 
kinds of ropes, packing cloths, sacks, nets, etc. In order to 
improve the fibre the plants are sown as closely as possible, 
and thus grow to the height of about ten feet. Dr. Buchanan 
{Journey, Vol. I., p. 226-7, 291, etc.) states that the jtlant 
thrives best on poor sandy soil, but requires to be abun- 
dantly watered. When cut down, it is sjiread in the sun 
and dried, the seeds beaten out, after which it is tied up in 
large bundles, and stacked under sheds. When wanted, the 
stems are macerated from six to eight days, or until the bark 
separates readily from the pith. They are taken up in 
handfuls, beaten on the ground, and washed until clear of 
the pith, after which the}"- are dried, and beaten with a stick 
to separate and clean the fibres, which are then ready for 
spinning. If taken green, and worked by ^[r. Mallory's pro- 
cess, the fibre would be white instead of brown, and probably 
double its present value, which, in India, is from $50 to $60 
per ton. An acre of the plant is estimated to produce about 
OOU lbs. of the cleaned fibre. 

Besides the fibres of the plant here described, those of a 
large jiumbcr of other plants of the same family were ex- 
hibited by Dr. Koyle at the great London Exhibition of 
1851. 

Strings and ropes of the fibre of the Bauhinia racemosa, 
called I*atwa, from Bhagncpore. 



EXOGENOUS PLANTS. 63 

Yercum fibres from tlie bark of the Calotropis gigantea. 

Fibre from the stalks of Parhinsonia aculeata. 

Pulas cordage from the fibres of the inner bark of Butea 
frondosa (a fine tree.) 

Ducliai hemp, fibre of yEschynomene canndbina. 

An arborescent member of this family, Lonchocarpus 
tenax, is found in Cuba, where it is called guama. It grows 
to the height of from thirty to forty feet, and is nine inches in 
thickness. Its bark furnishes good fibres used for cordage 
and cables. There is another variety in the island known 
as Guama del costa {LoiiGhocarpus siriceus.) 

No doubt most, if not all of the above fibre-producing 
plants are diffused over tropical America. 



AscLEPiA OR Milkweed Family. 

The ordinary milk- weed or silk-weed {Asclepias cornuti) is 
so well known as hardly to need a description. The abun- 
dant and beautiful " silk," on the seeds in its pods, however, 
is susceptible of but few useful applications, inasmuch as the 
hairs are cylindrical and perfectly smooth, and therefore in- 
capable of taking that hold on each other necessary to being 
spun into thread. The bark of the plant nevertheless con- 
tains a fibre, which was once regarded as of sufficient value to 
induce its introduction into Europe, and its cultivation there. 
Here, however, the plant has been entirely neglected, al- 
though it appears that a patent for extracting its fibre was 
granted in 1834 to Mrs. Margaret Gerrish. The fibre is 
long, nearly as strong as that of hemp, but firmer and more 
glossy, while the quantity from a single stalk is nearly the 
same. Dr. Schpeffer says of it, " The culture of this plant is 
said to be without difficulty, and almost every one lias ob- 
served it growing even on the poorest soils. As it is peren- 
nial, with strong roots, successive crops might, for a long 
time, be obtained from one sowing of the seeds. * * The 
fibre may be ranked between that of hemp and of flax for 
textile purposes, while, if the commercial demand for such 



64 TKOriCAL FIBRES. 

uses were not sufficient, its cultivation for paper stuff, at 
once, might prove remunerative." 

Several varieties of this family arc used in India for sup- 
plying fibres. One, furnishes the very tenacious fibre known 
as hoir-slriiKj hemp ; another, the O/ihcudhem viminea, grows 
luxuriantly along the bases of mountain ranges, and its long, 
straight, slender, and leafless stems fit it particularly for sup- 
pl^-ing materials for cordage. 

Yercinn-7ia7- is the name given in Bengal to the fibres of a 
plant of this family, the Cahtropis g/'gantca, which are be- 
lieved to be the most tenacious of any known in the world. 
(See Tables, p. 22). 



Miscellaneous Plants. 

Besides the various plants of the several families already 
described, there are numerous individual plants which pro- 
duce fibres, but which it would occupy too much space to 
notice in detail. Among these may be mentioned the Gira- 
sole or Jerusalem artichoke, {Ilelianthus tuberosns\ and a still 
more familiar member of the same fomily, the common sun- 
flower {Ildianthiis anmnis). It is said that the latter yields 
four kinds of fibie of different qualities and thicknesses. A 
patent was obtained in England in 1856, for extracting the 
fibres of this plant by machinery. 

The Apocynacere or Dogbane family is represented in vari- 
ous parts of the world by plants remarkable for their fibres. 
Two of these in the United States are rather well-known for 
their medicinal properties and their fibres. One of these, 
the "Indian hemp," (^1, mnnahimim) has its properties rep- 
resented both by its common and its botanical name. Ex- 
periments on its cultivation are desirable. 



PAOii'. T^^ 








A 



....■^i?^'i^'^:::'j.-f " 



AGAVE SISILANA. 
(yakhqux) 



PAGE 34 




FURERffi.A GIGANTEA 



t n*/A/V. •**9 UK0AO>V4t, lU f 




AGAVE MEXICAN A 



PAGE 36 






<L-^ 



%|:* 
%ij^ 




AGAVE AMERICANA 

f CENTURY PLANT ) 



PAGE 37 







-V*ii* 



AGA^/R VIRGINICA, 



', -^^O BffO.AOW'^'r.j' 



ii 

V ■ 



PLATE VI. 






PAGE 36 







K^^' \ . 




"'^^-, 



^!|»>W. 




$ ^ / 



■^^%. 



BKOMP^.IJ/v SYLVESTRIS OR PENGUiW 
(wibD piNP. appi.f;) 



'i.UT &¥iaf.'r. v.4*^'« * 



PLATE Vn. 




BROMELL^ KARATIS 



f SARONY.t^AJOfi Jt rtt/APR, •*49 BffOADA'^ f. 



PLATE Vm . 



PAGE 4] 



\ A, 



/ 










BROMELIA ANANAS 

fpiNE APPL£) 



PACE" 43 




MUSA ROSACEA . 

(banana OP- PLANTAIN TREe) 



PLATE X 



^ff^'^. 





APJENGA SACGHARTFERA 





BORASSUS KLABi'lLLlP'ORMlS 



PI.ATE XIT . 




PANDANUS ODORATISSIMUS 



f 



PLATF. Xni 



PAGE 60 . 






(Md\0 ^^^^ 




YUCCA ALOIPOLTA 



PLATE XIV. 



PAGE SO 




\u,i UJI 




YUCCA GLORIOSA 

(SPANISH bayonet) 



f SkWNr, MAJtm A t\N/J'P, *»ff 



i'agf; 60 , 








YUCCA "b'lLAMENTOSA 



PI ATE yyi 













PHORMIUM TENAX 

(nEAAT ZEALAND HEMP) 



,PR a - 1951 



V- 



oo^ 















./\ 



■ A^^"'"^/ 















.^ ,V^"'^^ 






o^ 









,^- ^. 









:.'?•' 



^■^- 



^v. ...^:^• 



.vx^'-. 









'^^ c^' 



,^^' "^r. 



.0 O 






,0o 



t\' 



,^^ '^^ 



>• .^N^ 
























%<^'^ 

A^' •>;>, 



,\" 






.0 o. 






* •*. 



>• ■''^^. 



^0 -^c^. 



Cr. .v-\ 



\V '•/'. 



■I -^ yt 






..^" 






\a^ 



%.'^'-- 



iV ./. 









v 



0- 



,^^ '^^ 



& ''K 



A- 



.v^- 



'^,v 



cT' \^ 






.^^ ^■^.- 






